Operation Gokovo
by TheShow71
Summary: Eight years after being brought in, some people from Natasha's past attempt to blackmail SHIELD. Clint is brought in to clean it up but he soon realizes there is more than meets the eye. Who can he trust? And can Natasha trust him? All characters involved! A/A
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, a few things before I start the story. First, Gokova is an actual place in Russia, but I picked it randomly off a list of names of Russian cities. I have no idea what its like there. In my story, it is a run-down, abandoned town. Second, I don't speak Russian. All Russian parts are translated from Google which I know means its probably not right but oh well. Their translations directly follow. When the Russian guys talk, I purposely messed with the grammar for their accents. Lastly, this first chapter will take place 8 years in the past, but the rest of the story will directly follow the movie. All characters will most likely be involved by the end. Enjoy!**

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Gukovo, Russia 2004

The warehouse was dark. Only the light from outside that passed through the broken windows gave the area any form of light. There was an upper level walkway, but besides that, the place was completely empty. In other words, a perfect place for an exchange. The five men entered straight through the front doors. The Russian mob was not known for showing any fear and therefore felt no need to take precaution in their entrance. Each man was strapped with a gun. The man in front carried a suitcase, no doubt filled with money for the exchange.

"Так что теперь босс? Она не здесь" _So what now boss? She ain't here._

"Мы ждем. Она будет здесь. Хороший бизнес никогда не выходит отменить." _We wait. She will be here. Good business never goes undone._

"Wait? She is supposed to wait for us! Not other way around."

"Trust me. We will wait for this woman. She is unlike our other associates. She comes highly recommended and is not to be messed with," the man warned his comrades. "Besides, this package will be well worth the wait. This Black Widow is bringing us a gold mine."

"And if she gets greedy with this gold?" Another man asks in an angry tone.

"We tear pretty little limb from pretty little limb." The boss replies with a laugh. All the men began to laugh when one previously unheard voice stuck out as its sarcastic, loud laugh mocked the others.

"Ahahaha! Ahahaha! Ahaha! Ha!" Clint leaned against the upper railing of the lift turned away from the Russians. His laughing stopped abruptly. "Really? I've wanted to learn Russian for years to find out what the hell it is you all laugh at so much and it's not even funny." The Russian men, who had all drawn their guns, looked to one another with confused expressions. Hawkeye swung himself around and looked down at them. "In the future please continue to joke in Russian. It keeps the fantasy intact," he explained.

"Who are you?" The main Russian asked.

He paused a moment before answering. "I'm the guy you came to talk to."

"I came to talk to woman. Not some coward spy who hides in a nest."

Hawkeye's face made the words seem so harmless and conversational. "What's wrong? I'm not pretty enough? I realize her chest is bigger than mine but I've been told many times my ass is fantastic. Just ask your man that's creeping up behind me." As he said so, a man with his gun held out walked up behind Clint and looked him up and down.

"I pictured her as being less of a man."

"And I pictured some funnier Russians so I guess we're all disappointed."

"You have 5 seconds to tell us who you are and what you want." The main Russian proclaimed.

Clint smiled a mischievous smile. "I'm the man with the bird's eye view. I see everything and everyone. You, him," Clint pointed his thumb to the man behind him without looking, "the men you have waiting outside. Well... had." Clint made a gun gesture with his hand and fake fired it while making a 'bop' sound with his lips. "You know I never realized before but the Russian mob is a bunch of pussies."

"You son of a bit-!" The Russian behind Clint did not have time to finish his sentence before Clint whirled around and landed an elbow to his jaw, causing him to drop his gun. The man retaliated by thrusting a fist at him, but Clint ducked before sending a blow into the man's abdomen. He then stood up and thrust an elbow down into the man's back, dropping him. Three of the Russian men had their guns drawn, but the man with the briefcase held an arm up, signaling for them to wait.

Clint let out a laugh at seeing this. "They know any other tricks?" He looked at the man attempting to slowly get up in front of him. "Roll over" he said flatly before sending a powerful punt to the man's face, flipping him over and knocking him out cold.

The Russian boss did not seem bothered. "Cute display. Now we know you are a professional. You say you are here instead of Black Widow?"

"On behalf of Black Widow."

"Whatever. So you want to do business or not?"

Clint seemed to think about it for a second before responding, "Sure. Since I have what you want you make me an offer."

"The Black Widow agreed to a price of 1,500,000 rubles for the files."

"Okay. Counter offer; you forget the Black Widow and her package, and I let you walk out of here alive and with your money." His face never changed from its stern look.

The Russian men all stared in disbelief at his words. The very angry Russian boss broke the silence. "Is this some kind of joke? You think this is funny? We far outnumber you and we need that file."

Clint began looking around him. "Well damn I think you're right. I'm alone aren't I?" His tone was very sarcastic, as he acted frightened. But then he began tapping a finger on his chin and began to think out loud, "unless... Unless I was really just stalling so my team could get into position to swing in through the windows and make a couple of bloody Russians."

The five men looked between each other in sudden panic. They all looked up to the windows surrounding the area.

Clint continued, "Well if that was the case then I'd expect they'd be here in 5...4...3...2...1...Now!"

Without thinking, all five Russians began firing their weapons wildly at the windows, breaking glass, and screaming at their targets. Only there were no targets. Nobody swung in the windows. Each man stopped after a few moments and once again looked to their also confused comrades. They then turned their attention back to where Clint had stood, only he was now gone. "Find that man!" screamed the Russian boss. Each man took off in different directions, guns at the ready.

They had only taken two steps when something whizzed between them. They turned to see one of their comrades with an arrow sticking out of his chest. There was a flag on the arrow which read "Look up!" The men did as it said and looked up to see Clint on an even higher perch just as he fired an arrow into the face of another of the Russians. The remaining men returned fire, causing Clint to jump to a nearby window and climb out of it and upwards.

"He is headed for the roof!" screamed one of the Russians.

Two of the Russians began climbing ladders to the roof while the boss Russian found a set of stairs headed upwards.

On the roof, the first of the three Russians to climb to the top was just in time to look onto the roof and see Clint send an arrow straight into the air. He turned and called to the others, "He sent up a flare!" Clint quickly turned and sent an arrow into the chest of the man, sending him falling off his ladder and to his death.

Suddenly the boss Russian slammed through the roof door, tackling Clint. Both men got to their feet quickly. The Russian attempted to point his gun at Clint, but Clint grabbed his arm and twisted it before bringing an elbow down on it and then sending a hard kick to the Russian's stomach, which knocked him to the ground. The Russian looked up as Clint pulled out and mounted his arrow, but before he could strike there was a clicking sound, indicating a gun had been cocked, behind Clint. The last Russian henchman kept his gun readily fixed on Clint.

Clint slowly lowered his bow. The boss Russian, although clearly in pain as he stood, laughed at the site of the defeated archer. "Well now look who has the upper hand. Huh?" he mocked. "I'll give you one last chance to give me what I came here for," the Russian warned.

"Somehow I think you'll still kill me if I give you the file," Clint answered in a flatly.

"Well then, any last words?" Asked the Russian boss.

Clint smiled. "Yeah. That wasn't a flare." Just as he said the words the Russian who stood behind him looked up just in time for the arrow to drop directly into his forehead.

Before the Russian's dead body could hit the ground Clint loaded an arrow into his bow and fired it directly into the leg of the remaining Russian.

As the man dropped in agonizing pain Clint walked up to him and squatted so the Russian could hear his voice. "Listen to me." The Russian stared directly at Clint. "See that arrow in your leg there? That's not a normal arrow. It has an explosive device built into the arrowhead. Now if I push this red button here on my handle your leg will explode and you will die."

The Russian's face was full of nothing but dread. "Why are you not killing me?"

"Because you're going to deliver a message to your superiors for me. The files are gone. You will never re-attempt to acquire these files or my superiors will send one hundred men like me to destroy your whole organization."

"Who are you?" the scared Russian inquired.

Clint smirked and answered, "The man that took out all your backup before you walked the ten steps to the warehouse. The man who just made your men look like complete morons just in time for them to die painful deaths." He stood and took a few steps away from the man before halting. "And the man who killed the Black Widow." Clint spun around and delivered a near knockout blow by kicking the man in the face. He grabbed the dazed man and pulled him close to his face. "Did you hear me? I... Killed... the Black Widow." Clint threw the man back on the ground before walking through the door of the roof to return downstairs.

* * *

The van was parked in a garage relatively near the warehouse. Clint opened the back door and looked inside to the figure sitting in the back. The figure was cuffed behind their back and had a bag over their head. Clint pulled the bag off the figure's head to reveal the face of Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow.

His tone was casual. "Okay. We're done here. Time to head back to the states."

"Was all this necessary? You couldn't just let me help you kill them?" she seemed agitated.

He looked at her with the same unreadable face she shot back. "The point wasn't to kill them. The point was to make sure they knew you were dead and that this file here, "he said gesturing to a file lying beside Natasha," is gone forever. Now let's go," he said as he walked up to the front of the car without closing the back doors.

"Uh? Agent Barton? What are you doing? You left the doors open."

"That's because you're riding up here with me," he said getting into the driver's seat.

It took her a moment to respond. "Fantastic but you still need to uncuff me."

"You were out of your handcuffs before I left you here." he called dryly.

She pulled her hands from behind her back since he knew she was faking being cuffed before she got out of the back of the van, closed the doors, and walked up along the other side of the van. She peered through the outside of the passenger's side window and looked at him with in a confused manner. "You left me here with the file even though you knew I wasn't cuffed to the van?"

"Call it a test. I wanted to see if you'd run. Don't worry. I'd catch you again," he said with a slight smirk.

Although it seemed as though she wanted to smile, she never did. "So now I get to ride in the front because I didn't run."

"That and I get lonely. What's the harm? You're not running and you're not gonna try to kill me."

"Oh yeah? How do you know that?"

All the questions were agitating him. "Because if you weren't cuffed here then there is no way you didn't sneak over to see the show. You could've brought the file and killed me there to get your money. You want this. Whether or not you admit it you want this second chance and I'm the man who's giving it to you instead of an arrow through the heart."

After a few moments she opened the passenger side door and got in the van. He looked at her and held out the file and a lighter. "Before we go, final exam. You do this and you can leave this life behind forever."

She looked at the file for a few seconds before taking the lighter and setting fire to the papers. They waited for every page to burn before Clint gave her a slight nod of approval and started the van. Both stared directly ahead as the van drove off.

"So what's next Agent Barton?" she inquired.

"First things first. When it's just the two of us, you call me Clint."

She turned her head slightly and stared at him for a few moments before returning her gaze to the road ahead of them. While she may have not smiled at the unexpected gesture, her expression could help but show the satisfaction it had given her.

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Hope you enjoyed Chapter one. I'm through chapter five but I'm not gonna update until I either finish another chapter to stay ahead, or get so many reviews. Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everybody I'm back with chapter 2! Thanks to all who've subscribed and a special thanks to the reviewers!- ****Shanynde, blackdog-lz, tic tac toe 03, Dragonkit, Aggie2011, rapidfaith, , **

**A special shoutout to Era Gray, who's volunteered to help me with the Russian translation. How awesome is that? **

**I was a little busy shooting a music vid with my friends but now I should be all yours. Most new chapters won't take long for me to put up, but the more reviews I get the more tempted I am to post more (I'm though chap 5).**

**THIS CHAPTER IS SET AFTER THE MOVIE. Psych evals are tests Clint must pass to prove he's not under Loki's control anymore and totally himself. Hope you enjoy the second chapter!**

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"With all due respect Councilmen, you have got to be out of your freaking minds." an enraged Director Fury exclaimed to the monitors he faced which contained the faces of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Council.

"Excuse me Director?"

"You do realize what you're asking me to do? Killing an American hero, hell a world hero," Fury corrected himself, "not to mention one of the best agents of this organization?"

The Councilman in the middle screen spoke. "As always Director, this Council has put much thought and discussion into this decision, but there is much more at stake here than one agent. This entire organization is in jeopardy."

"Well then how about you all do your jobs in D.C. instead of going after the agents who are doing theirs? I know everybody here would appreciate that."

"This is our job Director. And it is your job to carry out the decisions we make," a female member answered.

"Last time I checked not following your orders saved the island of Manhattan." Fury mocked.

The center man spoke again. "We've been meaning to speak with you on that issue Director. Regardless of the results you disobeyed a direct order. This Council is not happy. As of now you are being put on level 5 probation. Failure to carry out any of this Council's orders will result in immediate termination. So we suggest you follow the order you have officially been given."

Fury was clearly frustrated as he looked down, struggling to find a way out of his predicament. He sighed in defeat before he answered without looking up. "Give me 72 hours to work out the details."

"You have 48," the female Councilman immediately answered before all the screens in front of Fury went black.

"Yeah. I can see how much thought and discussion that took," Fury muttered in a hollow voice. He walked out of the room and touched the radio in his ear to activate it. "Hill?"

"Yes Director," replied a female voice in his ear.

"Get me Agent Barton."

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Clint stared out at the city. Although he clearly was lost in his own thoughts the view of the city was beautiful. He lifted the beer bottle in his hand and took a sip before speaking.

"If you wanted a key, all you had to do was ask."

"If you needed a place to stay, all _you_ had to do was ask" Natasha replied as she appeared behind him before leaning forward on the railing of the balcony directly beside him.

"Call me self-centered but my last place of residence was blown to ash along with all my stuff. If Stark wants to pay for me to live in the best apartment in New York I think I'll let him," he answered without breaking his intense gaze out into the city. He took another sip of beer.

"Is he paying for the beer too?"

He broke the gaze and walked over to a bench and sat down. "As impossible as it may seem Natasha, some of us would like to find some source of enjoyment in our time off."

He was avoiding the issue and she knew it. "Clint in the eight years I've known you I have never seen you drink."

"That's because I never had time off. But until my psych evals come back I'm on the bench," he said as he took another sip of his beer. "So if I feel like not wearing the tight uniform," he said gesturing to her ensemble, "and drinking a beer then I think I'll observe my right to do so." He took another sip.

She just stood there; arms crossed, and stared daggers at him. When he refused to acknowledge her, she spoke. "You weren't at the service." It got his attention. "Coulson's funeral."

His face became very hard for a moment before he chuckled to himself. "So that's why you're here. Been keeping an eye on me?" He looked back out to the city.

She continued to stare daggers at him, but he refused to return the look. With a sigh she walked over to the bench and sat directly beside him. There was genuine concern on her face and she looked into his eyes. "I'm worried about you Clint-"

His face snapped back to her as he quickly retorted, "-Don't be. I'll be fine once I'm back in the field." He stood up and walked back up to the railing.

She did not stand, refusing to chase him. Instead she sat back, crossed her legs and replied, "I've requested to be your partner when that time comes."

Without looking back he replied, "I don't need you to watch over me."

"Fine. The request still stands." Clint turned with a smirk at this and Natasha's lips formed a slight smile as well.

"So how long do you think it will be before your psych eval results are back?"

Before Clint could answer his phone began to buzz. He took a look at the caller I.D. "Sooner than you think." He flipped the phone open and held it to his ear. "Barton."

"Agent Barton this is Agent Hill. A car will be downstairs to pick you up in two minutes. Director Fury wishes to speak with you."

"Yes ma'am. Two minutes." he replied before closing his phone and smirking at Natasha. "Looks like we got action headed our way. Fury wants to speak with me."

"Fury? For a psych evaluation?"

"And hopefully an assignment to go with it."

"Assuming you passed the evaluation. You were never that sane to begin with," she sarcastically joked.

As he walked to the door he called back, "Stark's paying for everything so feel free to eat, drink, or break whatever you want."

"You always know how to treat a girl."

And with that, Clint walked out the door to go meet the car downstairs.

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I know. Less action, but trust me it'll get good. To all the subscribers out there, what did you like about this chapter or chapter 1? Overall thoughts? All reviews are tremendously appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the wait but Chapter 3 is officially here. Once again, thanks to everybody who subscribed and a shoutout to all who reviewed! **

**DIDDY61, KatieLovesPeterPan, VapidPhilosophy, rapidfaith, animexluva13, The Cocky Undead, Aeriscetra12, tic tac toe 03**

** I wanted to answer a question that The Cocky Undead brought up in their review of whether this story is slash or romance. The answer is neither. I'm not a slash writer and there are a million other authors out there who enjoy writing romance stories so I'll leave that to them. This story is an action/drama idea of mine. You may have noticed that I don't give a whole lot of insight into character's personal thoughts because as a reader I want you to interpret their actions yourself. It allows me to add more surprises you don't see coming. So I won't deny any possible pairing people think is coming but I will tell you that nothing in this story is as simple as it seems and thoughts of love are not running through my head when I write it. There is a much bigger plot at hand.**

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Director Fury stared at the file in front of him. He knew something needed to be done. It wouldn't have been the first order he ignored, and the lives of millions had been saved because of it. The Council be damned. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. He flipped the lighter open, igniting the flame before reaching to grab the file. Before he could reach it, there was a voice in his ear.

"Director Fury, Agent Barton is here as you ordered."

The Director stopped for a long moment. He looked up to the door and then back down to the file. Flipping the lighter closed he replied, "Send him in." Agent Barton walked in as Fury closed the top drawer, which now contained the file.

"You rang Director?"

Fury stared at the man for a moment. "How are you feeling Agent Barton?"

His expression was serious. "Honestly, sir? I'm bored out of my mind. I was hoping you would have an assignment for me."

"I just might," Fury turned and walked back towards the window in the back of his office, "if you're up for it." Fury opened the drawer again, but pulled out the file beneath the one he had placed on top. "How's your head doing Barton?" he said looking up at the agent. "Any of Loki's magic dust still floating around in there?"

With a hint of anger at the suggestion Clint replied, "Concerned I might shoot you again?"

Fury did not laugh. He did not smirk. He only glared at his agent. "Answer the question."

Clint was pissed for sure now. "Why? You have the results of my psych evaluation. Either I passed or I didn't. If I did, then I would like to officially request an assignment. If not, then I would like to officially request that you stop bullshitting me and just say so… Sir." He waited for Fury to respond with anger, but was surprised when he didn't.

Instead, the director sat back in his chair and spoke in his same, calculated tone. "I don't have your psych evaluation."

Clint was dumbfounded. "What?"

"Your test results have not yet been determined."

Clint had no idea what to do in his confusion. He just stared at the Director who was looking down at the file on the desk. "Then what the hell am I doing here?"

Fury looked back up at the man. "We have a problem, Agent Barton. And since you are an inactive agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. you are the perfect candidate to fix said problem. As luck would have it, you're also the most experienced agent when it comes to dealing with the people causing this problem."

"What the hell are you talking about Sir?"

"Eight years ago you convinced us to bring in a former Russian gun-for-hire code named 'the Black Widow', whom you had been ordered to kill. To do so, you convinced the Russian mob that had hired her that you had killed her. Until now, that decision was one of the best calls an agent has ever made in the field." His last sentence caught Clint's attention.

"What do you mean 'until now'? Without Agent Romanoff the portal allowing Loki's army into Manhattan would never have been closed." Fury did not answer. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is this," Fury stated as he slid a newspaper across the desk to Clint. The cover photo was of the Avengers during the battle of New York. It had been taken by what must have been the one damn security camera in the city that was not destroyed and was during the only part of the fight in which all six Avengers had been together. "That photo has circulated worldwide. It's the most famous picture currently in the world." Fury's tone was growing more and more serious by the word.

"It's also my screensaver," muttered Clint as he looked at the paper.

"Agent Barton!" Fury slammed his hands on his desk and stood.

"What?" Clint took a moment to stare at the fuming Director for a moment before continuing. "For the love of God Sir, what is wrong?"

Fury did not respond. He actually seemed to regain his composure as he slid the now open file across the desk to Clint. Clint looked down at the file where he saw a picture with writing under it. The picture was the cropped face of Natasha from the picture in the paper. The writing beneath it read "The Black Widow is still alive. You lied to us. Bring us what we want or we will release her record to the public".

Before Clint could utter a word Fury began talking again. "The Avengers may have saved the world, but there was still a mess left over. Congress has been calling for the Avengers to answer for the damages." He paused. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is in danger of being shut down for their part."

"I assume that's off the record?" asked Clint without looking away from the note.

"Agent Barton, this whole conversation is off the record." Clint looked up at Fury. "What the Avengers _do_ have on their side is the public. The people like you. You're the heroes they've always dreamed of. If the Russian mob releases the Black Widow's ledger the Avengers lose everything. The public won't respond well to one of their heroes being a former Russian assassin, especially with her record. Without the public, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers do not stand a chance."

Clint shifted himself to stand at attention with his arms behind his back. "What's the mission Sir?"

Fury stared down his agent. "I need someone to meet with them. Find out what it is they want." Fury walked around the desk until he was face to face with Clint. "So I'll ask you this again Agent Barton… How's your head?"

"I don't even want to kill you a little Sir," replied Clint. Fury stared into his eyes. He still didn't seem satisfied. "Will it make you feel better if I pinky swear?" asked Clint, letting his frustration show.

"I want you to take a partner," Fury finally concluded.

"Fine. I'll bring Agent Romanoff. She's got as big a part in this as I've got."

Fury sighed and looked down at his desk before he spoke again. "No. Romanoff and all other active S.H.I.E.L.D. agents cannot know about this 'op'. To do so would mean debriefing her into 'Operation Gokova' and the Council forbid that when she was brought in."

Clint stood speechless. It had been years since that operation had been brought up. He finally found words to utter. "Then who?"

"I've got another man who's currently off duty. He doesn't seem to like me very much, but he'll listen to you and he won't ask too many questions."

Before another word could be said Fury heard the same voice in his ear again. "Director Fury, he's here."

"Send him in." replied the director.

Clint turned to see who his new partner would be. Before the figure walked through the door his familiar voice could be heard.

"Fury, what in the heck am I doing here?" The figure stopped when he saw the Clint was also in the office. "Oh, hello Agent Barton. What's going on here?"

Clint smirked, but before he could say anything, Fury answered the man. "Captain Rogers, we need your help."

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**Thoughts? Likes? Dislikes? Any form of review is appreciated! The more reviews I can get, the more people that will read my story so help a writer out. I'm hoping to update quicker but that all depends on how much you people seems to want it.**

******For those looking for more Clint/Natasha check out "Wounds" by tic tac toe 03!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 is here!**

**Shoutout to my reviewers!- Bribona, Aeriscetra12, DIDDY61, The Cocky Undead, animexluva13, OwlMay, tic tac toe 03, Tetsu-sama, SIGF**

**Thanks to Era Gray for translating the Russian in this chapter! I purposely didn't translate one part of the Russian. Just go with it. Trust me.**

**Also, "HAW" is my way of writing the screech of a hawk. I don't know how else to write it. You'll see.**

* * *

Natasha lay out on the balcony where Clint had left her staring out into what had to be the best view in the city. As she looked up to the sky she could not help but think of how somewhere, worlds away, Loki was having his eyes gouged by snake venom or his appendix torn from his body by a half-lion, half-dragon. The thought was very soothing to her.

In her relaxed state, she could also not help but to notice that Clint had left his beer bottle lying out on the table beside her. She herself had always made it a practice that she never drank alcohol unless a mission directly called for it. From what she could tell the bottle was a little less than half full. She stared at it for a full minute. It wouldn't hurt to finish it, and after all, she was Russian. She could hold it.

She rolled her eyes and let out a puff of air to tell herself that any internal debate over less than half a beer was stupid before she reached for the bottle.

"HAW!" The ridiculously loud sound of a hawk overcame the entire apartment and nearly threw Natasha out of her seat as she knocked the beer bottle of the table and onto the floor, smashing it.

"WHAT THE?-"

"HAW!" the sound rang again. Natasha realized the sound was coming from the door, and quickly got up to see what the hell it was.

Tony waited patiently outside for Clint to answer the door. He was surprised to see the face of the woman who answered.

"Agent Romanoff?" he asked with a raised eyebrow as he lowered his shades to see clearly. The woman looked pissed for some reason.

"What… in the hell… was that?" she questioned him with a dangerous look in her eyes.

"What? Oh, the noise? Personalized doorbell I had installed for Agent Barton." He rang the doorbell again and it rang out another, "HAW!" that made Agent Romanoff shudder. "Speaking of Agent Barton, do you think I could come in and have a chat with him? Or is he indisposed at the moment?"

"Excuse me?" There was literally fire in her eyes.

"You know…" Tony stood there awkwardly and could practically hear the Widow thinking of ways to kill him. "Your mother never told you about the birds and the spiders?"

At first she looked as though she was going to explode with rage, but after a few moments she seemed to cool down.

"Excuse me for a moment," she politely stated.

She shut the door leaving Tony in shock over her ability to control her temper. Then suddenly Tony heard a series of loud crashes and smashing inside the room. It stopped as quickly as it had started and Natasha opened the door again with a smile on her face.

"Please come in." Her voice was sarcastically sincere.

With a questioning look Tony stepped inside the apartment. As he did, he noticed the series of broken items throughout the apartment. Somehow he figured the damage had been fairly recent.

"What do you want Stark?" Natasha asked once he was inside the apartment and the door was shut.

"I'm looking for Agent Barton. I figured I'd check in and see how he liked his new, expensive digs," Tony replied looking at the broken items laid out in front of him.

She wasn't buying it. "Well wasn't that sweet of you. Why are you really here Stark?"

"A friend can't welcome a hawk to his new nest?" She glared at him and refused to answer. "Fine. I'm here because despite my best efforts, Dr. Banner has decided that he'd prefer to go back to his previous location of 'whereabouts unknown'. I was hoping Agent Barton, being an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., would be able to help me pinpoint his location."

"You can't let any of us live in peace, can you?" Natasha scoffed.

"And that's why I was going to Agent Barton, not you."

"Yeah, well Agent Barton is out right now getting the results of his psych evaluation so I doubt he will be of much help."

Tony's showed interest at the mention of the psych evaluation. "Oh, yeah? How's birdman doing with all that?"

Ignoring the nickname, Natasha replied, "It's hard to tell, but from what I've gathered I think he's more damaged than he's letting on. I'm hoping he'll be better once we're back in the field."

"Uh-huh…" replied Tony as he bent down to inspect a broken table. "This was mahogany. Thanks to you that tree died for nothing," he said pointing to the broken wood pile as he stood back up.

"It might have some company in that area soon," retorted Natasha. Just then, her phone started to ring. As she answered it Tony opened the door to Clint's bedroom and waltzed inside. "Romanoff."

"Nat, its Clint," said the voice on the other end of the line.

"Clint," she brought her voice down as she heard Stark pillaging around Clint's room, "how'd the evaluation go?"

"Great. Flying colors. Fury's already got me on a new assignment."

"Oh, I thought we were gonna partner the next mission?" she answered with disappointment in her voice.

"This was urgent. Me and Cap are gonna take care of it. Shouldn't be a long assignment. I'll see you when I get back."

Although she was clearly annoyed, she replied, "Alright then. See you when you get back. Shoot straight"

"Always do," his voice replied before he hung up.

Natasha stared at the phone for a second before calling out, "Looks like you'll have to wait to find Banner. Agent Barton is on assignment. Now get out of his room before I shoot you."

Tony strutted out of Clint's room as Natasha set the phone on the counter. "You know I thought a guy who spends most of his life alone on a perch in silence would have some kinkier stuff, but all he's got in there is his uniform, some extra clothes and his bow and arrows."

Natasha's eyes shifted and she turned quickly to face Tony. "What was that last part?"

"His bow and arrows. He's got a whole shrine thing going on in there." He noticed the look of worry on Natasha's face. "Why? What happened?"

Natasha turned and looked back at the phone on the counter. "Clint just lied to me."

* * *

Clint stepped through the door to the open roof. The building was abandoned and located outside of New York City. Apparently the mob had business in the country, which was strange, but since Fury had given Steve and Clint very limited time to get the deal done, nobody was complaining. Clint just stood there in silence by himself, waiting for something to happen. After a minute a man with a cane and a familiar face stepped out from one of the dark shadows and faced Clint from about 15 feet away.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my old friend, Mr. Bird's-eye view. Long time, no see."

Not amused, Clint answered, "How you doing Ivan?"

"You do not use my real name you дурак! _Jackass_!" the man spit back.

"Fine. How are you doing 'man I shot in the leg'?" He wasn't in the mood for joking. "Can we do what we came here to do?"

The man, Ivan, looked Clint up and down. "First things first. Have you come here unarmed?"

Clint put his arms out and above his head. "As you requested."

"Good. But just so you know, in case you try something stupid, I now have seven sharpshooters locked on you." Clint looked to his chest and could see seven small reds dots that had not been there a moment before. "How does it feel to have someone prey upon you for a change?" Ivan laughed hysterically at the archer's situation.

"As funny as I remember," Clint muttered to himself. "Alright Ivan, what do you want?"

"What do I want?" Ivan seemed confused by the question. He became angry at it. "What do you think I want? I want the same thing I've always wanted, but thought I would never have. All those years ago you told me it was gone forever. But you lied!"

"The Black Widow is not a bargaining chip Ivan. Not while I'm the negotiator."

Again, Ivan was confused by Clint's response. "The Black Widow?" He spat on the ground in disgust. "The Black Widow is traitor and scum. I do not care for her."

"Then what?"

Ivan threw his arms up in exclamation. "The file! The file you said was gone forever."

"That wasn't a lie Ivan. I watched that file burn-"

"LIAR! You lie about Black Widow and you lie about the file."

"Even if I was lying, I read that file myself. There's nothing in there you don't know by now. Informants, unsanctioned hits, dirty deals and all that crap. That was eight years ago. By now that information is useless."

Ivan paused and stared at Clint for a moment as what Clint had said sunk in. Slowly, a smile emerged on his face. He started to chuckle and with a smile he spoke in a low voice that Clint could barely hear. "А ещё говорят о чести среди воров! Похоже, человек с орлиным зрением видит только врагов, а не тех, кто притворяется другом, а потом наносит удар в спину." Clint's face grew hard as the Russian spoke to himself. He returned to English for Clint to hear. "My friend, you will go to your boss and tell him this. You have 12 hours to get the file I desire and bring it to me at location H. If it is not there in that time, the records of the Black Widow will not be the only files I release."

"What are you talking about Ivan? Where's location H."

He ignored the questions and continued. "You have 12 hours. But before we finish here, I have a present for you." A great grin appeared on Ivan's face. "Just as you left me with an arrow in my leg to deliver a message to my superiors, I am now going to leave you with a bullet in your leg." He laughed again before shouting into a device. "Now, Drago!" He smiled and waited.

Clint raised his eyebrow as he just stood there while nothing happened. After a few moments Ivan's smile disappeared as he spoke into the device again. "Drago, now! Shoot the leg now!" Again nothing happened. Ivan fidgeted with the device to see why it was not working. He glanced up at Clint while he did this and noticed something. Clint had a small device in his hand that he did not have before.

Clint clicked the button on his device and suddenly all seven dots on his chest disappeared. Ivan's eyes grew huge as Clint slowly walked towards him. "Ivan, what did you mean 'other files'?"

Even in his shocked state the man held his ground. "You have 12 hours. I would not waste any more time on questions I will not answer. Now what did you do to my men?"

Although he was confused and angry, Clint gave a smooth response. "Me? I did nothing. My friend here on the other hand knocked their whiny asses out and stored them inside the dumpster in the alley."

Ivan turned to see a much, much bigger man standing behind him in a red, white, and blue costume. He took a quick glance back at Clint before returning to his upward stare at the man. "Where do they find you people?" he sighed in a frustrated tone.

Steve took his shield and swung it at the man, sending the smaller man flying across the roof before he skidded to a halt, unconscious.

"What was all that?" Steve asked as he turned to Clint.

"Which part? The 'him wanting to shoot me part' or the 'other files' part?"

"No I understood the wanting to shoot you part." Clint gave the Captain a questioning look. It took Steve a second to realize how it had sounded. "You know what I mean. But what about the other part?"

Clint glared at the unconscious Russian. "I don't know, but apparently we don't know as much as we thought.

"Well we don't have time to sit here and figure it out. We need to get back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and come up with a plan. If the file's gone, we can't stop them from releasing those files."

Clint began thinking deeply. What did it all mean? Steve's voice brought him back to the present.

"Agent Barton! We need to move."

"Oh! Right. Okay, you get Ivan over there to the dumpster with the rest. I'll call Fury and update our status." Steve nodded and took off without another word while Clint pulled out his phone.

After being dispatched through to Fury's personal line, the voice of the director answered Clint's silence.

"Agent Barton, what's our status."

"Sir we have a problem. They want the original file that Agent Romanoff was supposed to bring them eight years ago when she was brought in. The file is gone Sir. It was burned the night I brought Agent Romanoff in." There was silence in response to Clint's report. "Sir, they seem to believe the file contained something other than its actual contents. They want this information in 12 hours or they'll release Romanoff's files." Again, there was silence on the other end. "They said if they don't receive the file they are going to release other files, but refused to specify what they contained. Sir we need to bring Agent Romanoff in on this in case she has vital information."

There was finally a response on the other end of the line. "Agent Barton, you and Captain Rogers are to report back to HQ. Once here, you will be debriefed. Your assignment is over."

Clint couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Sir?"

"That is an order, Barton. There's nothing else you can do for this mission. The file is gone, as you said. The Council will now determine our course of action." This time it was Clint's turn to be silent. "Is that understood Agent Barton?" Fury angrily questioned.

After a moment, Clint responded, "Yes, Sir." He hung up the phone as his mind raced. Everyone knew how well the Council's last plan had gone. Before he could think anymore, Steve was back.

"So what's the plan?" Steve asked.

Clint looked down at the phone and then back up to Steve. "We're to report back to HQ to plan out our next move. But before we get back, Fury wants us to pick something up."

Steve gave a questioning look in response.

"Captain, it looks like we're getting the team back together." Clint glanced at Steve before opening his phone again.

Steve smirked. "I'll get the car," he said as he took off again.

Clint was already dialing a number into his phone. He waited for an answer.

"Dr. Banner? You're transport out of here is ready… Yeah, but I'm gonna need you to come in with me first… Standard protocol… We'll be there in two hours… And Bruce, don't forget to bring it."

* * *

**Read and Review! It gets me through the day. I'm falling a little behind in my writing but I got some free time coming up so I should be back on course soon. Hope you enjoy! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, chapter 5 is finally here! Thanks to all the new subscribers!**

**Shoutout to my awesome reviewers- superprocrastinator, SIGF, tic tac toe 03, OwlMay, jckris, Liliththestormgoddess**

**Things are definately about to heat up!**

* * *

Agent Hill stood at the helm of the hellicarrier control room. She gazed out into the sky in front of her intensely. Suddenly there was a beeping noise coming from the screen to the right of her. One of the agents on the controls in front of her was the first to respond to it.

"Ma'am we have an unidentified heading our way"

"What?" She asked as she walked up behind the male agent to look at the screen.

"Well actually it looks to be two unidentified." The agent seemed very confused as he said it.

Agent Hill noticed the confusion in the agent's voice. "Well which is it? One or two?"

"Well…" the agent was typing furiously to double check his findings, "if the scanners are correct, it looks to be a body carrying another body"

"Body carrying a…?" It had taken her a moment to realize what it was. She closed her eyes in frustration as her brow furrowed. "Stark," she muttered to herself. Leaning into the mic in front of her, which controlled the PA system of the hellicarrier deck, she called out, "Mr. Stark you are not authorized to land on the hellicarrier deck."

"Wow. I'm flattered. I really am," rang Tony's voice over the PA system. "It's been forever since an agent has actually called me Mr. Stark. That's classy and I appreciate that, but unfortunately I'm gonna go ahead and ignore that last part Agent Hill."

The stressed out Agent immediately replied, "Do not play games with me Stark. Not now. I will not tolerate a direct order being ignored."

Noticing the anger in her voice, Tony retorted, "You S.H.I.E.L.D. women, where do they find you? As far as the whole macho, riot act you got going, it's good, not great, but unfortunately for you my hands are tied. Not literally tied, more like my hands are full, but _she_ scares me a whole hell of a lot more than you."

Agent Hill's face turned to one of confusion. "She?"

* * *

Natasha walked with purpose into the control room and took no time to address Agent Hill at the head of the controls. "Where's Fury?" she demanded as Tony strutted in behind her.

Agent Hill looked none too pleased with the current situation herself. "Excuse me Agent Romanoff, but what the hell do you think you're doing? Bringing a civilian aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport without authorization?" she said gesturing to Tony.

Tony pounced the second he was addressed. "Umm, I literally carried her the 100,000 feet from the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in New York to here so as far as who brought who… And since when am I a civilian?" he asked looking around the room for someone with an answer.

Agent Hill walked straight at the man as she addressed him with anger. "Since you decided not to become a full time part of S.H.I.E.L.D. and instead keep your life of doing whatever the hell you want, wasting potential, and getting in the way instead of actually putting your abilities to actual use. You're more trouble than you're worth."

It took Tony a moment to respond to that. "Wow…" he said unbelievingly, "I miss Phil." Hill rolled her eyes and turned away from Tony as he continued. "I mean even Nat over here likes me a little," he said putting a hand on Natasha's shoulder.

Natasha turned her head slightly and hissed, "Call me Nat again and I'll slit your throat."

Tony quickly removed his hand but did not look fazed by the comment. "See? In the past she would never have given me a warning."

Natasha was getting tired of the stupid commentary. "Shut it Stark. Hill, I need to speak to Fury, now."

Still with slight anger in her voice, Hill responded. "The Director is preparing for a meeting in his private office. I am the current Captain of this vessel so you can direct whatever you want to speak with him about to me."

Natasha sighed as she was none too pleased with the answer, but decided it was worth a shot. "Fine. I need to know the location of Agent Barton's current assignment."

Agent Hill almost laughed at the stupidity of the request. "You know I can't give you that. That information is _classified_."

"Maria, cut the crap and tell me where my partner is."

Any sign of amusement that had been on Hill's face a moment before was suddenly gone and replaced with anger. "Partner?"

"It's not what you think. I tried," chimed in Tony.

With arms crossed looking as pissed as ever, Natasha began, "Before Agent Barton was brought in for a new assignment I specifically requested to Director Fury that I be assigned as his partner on his next assignments until a time yet to determined and the Director agreed." She now began walking towards Agent Hill as she spat out each word. "But now suddenly Agent Barton is receiving his first mission since passing his psych evals and he's assigned to a different partner. So what's going on?"

Agent Hill closed the remaining gap between her and Natasha until they were face to face. Each woman looked ready to kill the other. "Agent Barton has been assigned to a mission per the usual mission standards. Perhaps the Director simply forgot your request or maybe as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. he needs Agent Barton elsewhere. Believe it or not, there are more important things for this agency to consider than what its favorite former Soviet spy wants." In the heat of the discussion between the two women, Agent Hill had not noticed Tony walk behind her and start playing with screens in front of him.

"Usual mission standards you say?" he called out without looking away from the screens.

"Yes the usual-" Hill began as she turned her head back. She stopped when she saw what Tony was doing and spun around to confront the man. "What are you doing?"

"I believe the correct term is 'hacking'," responded Tony nonchalantly. "My encryption decoder works a lot faster the second time around. Tell me, how can Agent Barton have been given the usual standards when he's not even an active agent?" Hill froze.

"What?" Natasha asked unbelievingly.

"Those files are classified documents-" Hill tried to begin.

"-Maria, shut the hell up. What do you mean 'not an active agent' Stark?

Tony flipped through a few more screens of data before answering. "According to these files, not only is Agent Barton's psychological evaluation score yet to be determined, but he is not on an actual mission. He's inactive."

In a last attempt to escape the conversation Agent Hill turned and began walking away. "I'm going to find the Director."

She was stopped abruptly by Natasha's arm blocking her way. "Oh you're not going anywhere."

* * *

The jet plane's rear opened as the three men stepped out and onto the deck.

"Boys, welcome back to the hellicarrier," called Clint.

"Never thought I'd hear those words," Bruce said with a slight smile.

Steve looked around the deck as he chimed in. "Personally I never wanted to hear those words, but hey, at least this time I'm with guys I know I can trust." He patted both men on the back as he walked in front of them.

"Trying to make me blush Captain? Cuz I don't turn that color," Bruce joked as he followed the man.

Clint looked around to see the reaction to their arrival, but none of the agents on the deck seemed to notice their presence. Catching up to the other two men, Clint took charge. "Captain, I need you to go to the control room and alert Agent Hill of our arrival. Dr. Banner, if you'll come with me we can finalize this relocation and send you on your way."

Steve nodded to Clint before extending a hand to Bruce. "It was good to see you again Dr. Banner."

Taking it, Bruce smiled in return. "Same to you Captain."

As Steve walked towards the control room the other two men walked inside the hellicarrier and down a long hallway. Bruce laughed as they turned a corner. "I suppose they have a dozen agents watching our every move."

Turning his head at the statement, Clint asked, "What makes you say that doctor?"

"Last time the two of us were on this thing you took out two of the engines and I tried to break, well, everything else," Bruce replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, well, without my part in that you would have never 'gone green'." Clint took no enjoyment away from the thought.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Besides, I always wanted to go nude sky diving."

That drew a smile from Clint as the men neared their apparent destination. "Dr. Banner, before we send you off, I'd like to ask you some questions regarding an assignment I'm currently working on."

Slightly surprised Bruce responded, "Oh? Uh, sure I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you doctor. What do you know about 'Operation Gokovo'?"

"Gokovo?" responded a confused Bruce. "Like the city? I've never heard any operation regarding it, or any S.H.I.E.L.D. operations really."

Clint continued to gaze forward at the long hallway as he continued. "Interesting. Would it help if I told you 'location H' was involved?"

"Agent Barton, I have no clue as to what you're talking about." The hallway finally ended as the men came to a room.

Clint smiled as the confused response. "Fair enough. It was worth a shot. One last thing Dr. Banner…" Bruce stepped ahead of Clint and entered the room. Clint stopped just short before finishing, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" asked Bruce, confused at the apology.

"For this." Clint pressed a button outside the door and a glass door slid between the men and locked Bruce inside.

Panic hit Bruce's face in a second. "What's going on here? What are doing Agent Barton?"

"Doctor, I'm depending on the fact that when you change back, you'll be able to figure that out." Clint's face was brooding as he turned and began walking away from the doctor.

"Change back?" Bruce suddenly noticed that the room was slowly filling up with a green gas. "No! Agent Barton, you need to let me out of here! Clint! CLINT!"

But he was already gone.

* * *

Agent Hill was in a tight spot. "Listen to me. Agent Barton is with Captain Rogers. Their mission is under the radar and unofficial. That's why there's no record of the 'op'. Director Fury made the call himself."

"And yet somehow I don't feel any better." Tony retorted.

"What if he's not okay? What if part of his mind is still not right?" Natasha angrily hissed at the other female agent. Tony gave a surprised look at Natasha that she immediately responded to. "He'd ask the same question if it were me."

"There is no evidence pointing to that. Even so, I know for a fact that Agent Barton was not allowed his bow on the assignment," Hill claimed in defense.

"It's still at his apartment," added Tony. Even though she knew it was a fact, Natasha gave him a death stare for the comment.

"And his backup is in weapons storage. He's not a threat." Agent Hill seemed satisfied with her own conclusion and began to turn away from the two individuals. "Now if you excuse me, there's actual work I need to be concerned about."

A second later, Natasha and Tony both did a double take as Steve strolled into the room.

"Captain." Natasha addressed as she turned towards the man.

Steve was surprised by the appearance of the two but still seemed happy about it. "Agent Romanoff, always a pleasure. Tony…" Steve searched for words but instead just smiled.

"Back atcha." Replied Tony with a wink.

Steve now turned his attention to the female agent who did not look pleased to see him. "Agent Hill, I'm here to report that Agent Barton and I have the package and are awaiting further instructions."

"Why didn't you just radio that message in?" asked Agent Hill angrily.

Steve paused, confused at the anger. "Agent Barton said he was having trouble with the frequency so he asked me to report it to you here."

"Excuse me Captain, but where is Agent Barton now?" Natasha interrupted.

"I believe he was going to finalize the processing of the package."

Now it was Agent Hill who looked confused. "Captain, what package are you referring to? I don't recall Director Fury saying there was going to be a package."

"Well, uh," Steve looked around at the three, unsure if he was allowed to answer the question. "Dr. Banner."

Simultaneously Tony, Hill, and Natasha's eyes all became huge. "Where are they now?" Natasha urgently asked.

"I think they were headed towards the south corridor." Natasha took off sprinting before he could finish. "Did I miss something?" Tony stared at the man for a moment before taking off himself, causing Steve to follow.

Agent Hill touched her earpiece quickly and frantically barked out, "This is Agent Hill I need agents in the south corridor with eyes on Dr. Banner immediately."

* * *

Director Fury had been sitting at his desk in his private office when he heard the transmission. "This is Agent Hill I need agents in the south corridor with eyes on Dr. Banner immediately." The director stood at hearing the news.

Suddenly, there was a 'click' behind the director. Slowly, he turned around to face the man who stood in his office with a gun pointing straight at him.

"You rang, Director."

* * *

**Read and Review because I really want to post chapter 6!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 is up and ready to go! Forgive me. I'm falling a little behind since I've decided to change the rest of the story from my original outline. Chapter 7 is almost done.**

**Shout out to my reviewers!- discordchick, Liliththestormgoddess, Tetsu-sama, valuablenicola, Posion Apple, OwlMay**

**Also, I hate this image manager crap so forgive my picture. I'll find a new one soon**

* * *

"Agent Romanoff, stop!" Steve had already passed Tony, but Natasha had a head start. "Agent… Natasha!" Steve was finally able to grab her as they came to a turn. He had been sprinting so fast that the two slammed up against the wall into an awkward position as he stopped her.

She immediately threw him back. "What the hell were you two doing? Clint hasn't been cleared for action!"

"Fury has us doing an unofficial assignment. He needed inactive agents. Agent Barton and I were the best available since you're still active, " he tried to calmly explain.

Unsatisfied, she continued, "What's Banner got to do with it?"

"Nothing," Steve defended. "Dr. Banner is here to be taken to a remote location. He wants to go back into hiding. He has nothing to do with our mission."

Tony, almost out of breath finally caught up behind the, having heard everything. "Uh, I hate to break up the Cold War here, but why exactly would Bruce go to the government to hide… from the government?"

"He didn't. He went to Agent Barton as a friend and asked for help."

"Clint doesn't need to bring him here to move him," Natasha furiously answered.

"Yeah, but Clint said Fury wanted us to bring him in for the transfer." Steve thought about what he had just said for a moment and started talking to himself. "But… if only Clint knew about the transfer… why did Fury ask for him?"

Without warning, the frustrated Russian took off running. Steve and Tony held back for a moment.

"You know your file was right." Tony commented as he started in the same direction as Natasha. "You have no idea how to talk to women."

All three stopped dead in their tracks as a noise erupted through the hellicarrier. "RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Only one creature made that sound.

"Uh-oh," was all Tony could manage.

"Clint." Natasha whispered in panic.

All three took off in different directions in all-out sprints. Natasha rounded two more corners before she had a visual. The Hulk stood with his back turned to her in a room with only one door. There was really no way out for him since the only door was too small and was already closed. She slowly opened the clear door and carefully stepped in the room. The Hulk suddenly spun at the sound of her step and snarled at her.

"Dr. Banner?" She took another step towards the Hulk slowly. "Bruce? Do you remember me? We're friends." The Hulk's hard face slowly became less hostile as it watched Natasha. Neither them noticed the armed agents slowly approaching from the hallway.

* * *

"Visual on the Hulk. Ma'am we have the prototype Hulk tranquilizers and we have a shot. Repeat. We have a shot."

Agent Hill's voice rang through the communicator. "Do not engage. Repeat. Do not engage. Does anybody know where the Director is?" There was silence on the radio. Hill shut her eyes in frustration. "Alright. Next available shot, take it. And somebody find me the Director! "

* * *

Natasha had both hands held out to show she meant no harm. The Hulk was surprisingly calm and almost seemed to recognize her. "Bruce, I need you to calm yourself."

Suddenly two shots rang out behind her, sending two large darts into the chest of the Hulk. The Hulk grabbed the darts and stared at them in anger for a moment before smashing them with his fist and looking back down to the terrified Russian agent. "RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAA!" The Hulk loaded up his fist before bringing it down on where Natasha stood.

At the last possible moment, Natasha was knocked away from the spot by Steve, who held his shield above his head. The collision knocked the Captain down to the ground hard.

The Hulk roared again as it held its damaged hand. Then, in one fluid motion it jumped up with all its might and rammed through the ceiling to the flight deck above. The crew on the deck scattered as the Hulk looked around him for potential targets. As Hulk began to charge one agent he was suddenly hit by a great energy force.

Ironman hovered above the deck, looking down at his green friend, who had smashed into a fighter jet. "Bruce, I need you to calm down."

"RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Not the answer I was looking for." Hulk grabbed the already destroyed fighter jet and threw it at the metal man in the sky. Tony dodged the jet with ease and watched the jet as it flew by him. "You may be strong Bruce, but your aim su-". Before he could finish the sentence the Hulk had leaped into the air and snagged him. The two came crashing down to the flight deck.

Tony glanced up to see the Hulk looking down on him as it held him down. Tony instinctively opened his mask just as the Hulk raised his fist. "BRUCE, WAIT!" The Hulk stared down at him. "Wow! Big Fist." Tony remarked. "Remember me? Remember you saved me from falling in New York." The Hulk's face became confused but it did not lower its fist.

* * *

Several agents with Hulk tranquilizing guns slowly approached the scene. "Agent Hill, we have a shot. Repeat we have a shot."

A hand stopped the agents where they stood as Captain America limped in front of them to witness the scene. "No... You don't."

* * *

The Hulk held his position with Tony under his palm and his fist raised. Underneath him, Tony held his palms out to show he meant no harm.

"Bruce I really need you to calm down. What'll calm you down? Huh? Whatever you want I can get." The Hulk's brow furrowed at the offer. "Stress ball? Stretchy pants?" Before he could say any more the Hulk leaned in closer to Tony, causing Tony to stiffen in fear. "What do you want me to do?" Tony practically whispered with fear.

After a moment the Hulk, in his deep, rarely heard voice, answered. "Shut up."

At the realization of the comment, Tony gave a questioning look to the Hulk, but decided for once in his life to comply with the request. After a few seconds the Hulk let go of the metal man and slowly, began to shrink down to normal size and regain color.

* * *

Every agent in the command center watched the scene on their respective computers and let out a breath at the sight of the shrinking Hulk. Agent Hill stood at the command post and sighed in relief. Her calm broke as one of the agents at a different control screen stood in panic. "Agent Hill! You gotta see this!"

"What is it?" she asked as she rushed over and bent forward to look at the screen.

"It's the live security feed from the Director's office," the agent answered as they both watched as Agent Barton held the Director at gunpoint.

* * *

"Toss me the drive, "Clint demanded as he stared at the Director. The Director took the flashdrive that had been in the side of his computer out and tossed it to Clint, who caught it with one hand. Clint looked at the drive for a second, before placing it in his jacket pocket. "It looks like I'm going to have to break my promise to you Sir." Clint moved his free hand back to his gun and fired.

The Director immediately dropped. Clint turned and ran out the door and into the hallway.

"Barton!"

He turned to see three armed agents twenty feet to his right. Without hesitation he turned and sprinted in the opposite direction, narrowly avoiding several gunshots. He turned right down a corner before two more agents appeared at the end of the hall, causing him to sidestep into the closest door.

Seeing a door with the stairs logo on the front down the hall, he took off towards it, shooting the keypad while he ran. The door slid open and revealed the beginning of a set of stairs towards the lower level of the hellicarrier. He jumped on the railing and slid down the long flight while turning back and shooting twice to slow the agents.

Once he hit the bottom, he took off straight down the hall, seeing the door he needed desperately to get to, but before he could someone stepped in front of the door, two guns at the ready.

Clint instantly stopped and raised his gun in shock. "Natasha?"

"Don't do this Clint," she warned. "This isn't you."

"You don't understand. Fury-" he was cut off by the sounds of the agents behind him yelling for him to hault. He quickly glanced back at them and turned back to Natasha, trying to think of an escape.

With a quick twitch he fired into a pipe near Natasha, causing gas to blow into her face. She only turned her head away for a second, but it was long enough for Clint to shoot the key pad of the door behind her and begin his sprint towards her. The agents behind him chased after, not wanting to shoot Agent Romanoff.

Seeing him coming, she instinctively reacted by spinning to land a heel kick to his torso, but he saw it coming and baseball slid under the kick, before popping up behind her and putting her in a head lock.

"Listen to me!" he spat through his teeth.

She thrust an elbow into his gut and turned before landing a dropkick to his torso. He was knocked back, but caught himself on the sides of the now open door. He looked back up just in time to see her run and jump, locking his head with her legs. She pulled down to complete the move, but instead, he caught her and pulled her body back up before throwing it down to the floor while he fell into a sitting position.

Rolling her legs off of his shoulders, he did a backwards somersault into the room behind him and hit the inside keypad to close the door. He got up and searched the room for what he was looking for.

Finding his extra bow and set of arrows he grabbed the longest cable he could find and thrust it around his shoulder along with his arrow holster. Picking out an arrow, he fired it into the corner of the wall in the room, giving him a slight smirk as it stuck.

"Clint!" A voice cried out.

He turned to see Natasha, as well as ten agents surrounding him and trapping him in the corner. Natasha held one gun with both hands out in front of her, aimed at Clint's chest. In response, he grabbed a grenade from the box behind him and stuck his thumb in the pin.

Both of their faces were hard as they faced one another. "Please, Clint. You don't know what you're doing," she pleaded.

"No, Nat. For the second time since we met, I know more than you," he replied grimly.

Hesitating at hearing her nickname, she spoke again. "You backed yourself into a corner. There's no way out. Give yourself up and let me help you."

"I'm not the one who needs help! Listen to me, you're being lied to-" but before he could finish another agent behind Natasha touched his ear as he received a communication and cut him off.

"Barton, the Council is ordering for you to surrender in five seconds or we will be forced to fire.

Clint looked from the agent back to Natasha quickly. "You know what we were taught when there's no way out."

"Make one," she whispered in confusion.

Clint clicked the button on his bow and the arrow stuck in the wall exploded, exposing the sky outside the aircraft. As the change in pressure began sucking everything close through the hole, every agent in the room reached for something to hang onto.

Natasha grabbed the nearest pole and looked back to see Clint, who with one last, long, sorrowful glance towards her, ran and leapt through the hole to fall towards the earth.

* * *

**Dun dun dun! Tell me what you think! Make my day! Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow! I got so pumped when I saw the reaction to last chapter, although it was a fun one to write so I wasn't too surprised. Still, the most reviews a single chapter has gotten so far!**

**Shoutout to all the awesome reviewers!-TheFictionMe, Poison Apple, mellbell12123, KatieLovesPeterPan, rapidfaith, discordchick, OwlMay, NighttohisDay, azure blue espeon, animexluva13, Liliththestormgoddess, tic tac toe 03, and DIDDY61 **

**IMPORTANT! This one is gonna have a lot of jumping so here's some help. Italicized portions are flashbacks. When there are two horizontal lines that means Clint is flashing back to his meeting with Ivan. Also, the meeting mentioned by Fury between Black Widow and the Russians is referencing Chapter 1. There should finally be some answers for all of you who have been asking! If there are any other questions or confusion, message me!**

* * *

Clint had no time to panic as he fell. As fast as humanly possible, he pulled an arrow from his pack and tied the end of the cable to it. He then tied the other end to the bow and prayed it would be long enough. He had fallen just close enough to the building to take the shot. With no time left and no way to judge the wind, he took the shot.

The cable began rapidly unwrapping as he watched the arrow fly. With less and less cable and the ground growing closer and closer, he was almost ready to panic when the arrow finally met its target and stuck into the spiral antenna of the Empire State Building. The line was suddenly tugged and Clint now swung towards the upper floor of the building.

One hand hanging as tightly as possible to his bow, he reached into his jacket and pulled out the grenade from the hellicarrier, pulled the pin, and chucked it towards the windows. Just before it could reach the windows, the grenade went off, blowing up the windows without much inner damage.

As the force of the building broke the cable, Clint swung into the destroyed window before slamming hard into several office stalls and skidding to a halt. Debris from the windows and office flew everywhere as several people approached the debris covering the unmoving archer.

* * *

Steve, Tony, and the now normal sized Bruce were in the hellicarrier lab when Natasha walked in. "What's going on?" she asked angrily.

"I'm fine thanks. Not like I almost just got smashed or nothing." Tony chimed in as he rubbed his wrist.

She was not in any sort of mood to put up with Tony's comments. "Clint just jumped off the hellicarrier!"

Steve spoke before Tony could. "We know."

"Since I'm still hacked into the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network, I was able to pull up this security footage," said Tony as he touched the computer screen in the room. They all watched as Clint shot Fury, ran from the agents, and fought Natasha. As the footage showed Clint slam Natasha onto the ground, Tony turned to Bruce and Steve. "Remind me to keep a copy of that."

Without flinching Natasha grabbed Tony by the throat and shoved him against the wall so he could see the fire in her eyes. "You think this is funny?" she asked.

Taking a step towards them, Steve cautiously spoke. "Agent Romanoff, there's more."

"What more?" she asked, whipping her head towards Steve.

Tony grabbed Natasha's wrist and pushed it off him. He stared at her angrily for a moment before speaking. "After Barton's 'Jason Bourne' act on the hellicarrier, this…" he touched the screen again, "broke onto the news."

All four watched in disbelief as different cameras showed a small explosion outside a window on one of the top floors of the Empire State Building. It was quickly followed by what appeared to be a man swinging into the building holding a bow tied to some sort of cable. An eye witness from the floor was speaking to reporters.

"There was this loud noise and we all were like, 'what the hell is going on'. I see the window is blown apart and there's glass everywhere, and then this guy just swings into the building on a bow at like 100 mph. He's crashing through walls and ends up buried in debris. We all rushed over to see if he was okay, but when we dug up the pile, he was gone!" Tony paused the screen.

Natasha turned back to the men with clear frustration and anger in her face. "I don't understand."

"What's not to understand? The man was under the control of a magical demigod and now his head is all screwy." Tony, in almost a mocking tone, answered her.

This time it was Steve who spoke. "No. His head was fine during our mission," he insisted. A second later, realization hit his face and he burst out, "The mission!" The burst out caused him to pause as suddenly all eyes were on him, but he seemed nervous to speak, most likely due to the mission's secrecy.

After an awkward silence, Bruce, who was lying on the table behind Steve, finally spoke. "Captain, I think we're a little past keeping secrets at this point."

Steve thought for a moment before explaining. "Clint was talking to the mark, and the mark hinted that S.H.I.E.L.D. was keeping something from us. He must've devised this plan to find out what it was."

"_Yes_. Hawkeye's plan, where he unleashes the Hulk on a government flying object, shoots his boss, and literally redefines the phrase 'flew the coop'! Yeah, he's just fine in the head." Tony's sarcastic side finally got the better of him, although there was clear frustration in his words.

"Are you gonna shut up Stark? Or am I gonna have to finish what the Hulk started?" Natasha spat back at him.

Tony answered by stepping close to Natasha, eying her harshly. His voice, for once, was not loud. "You told me you weren't sure if he was okay. What the hell has changed since then that you're so offended every time I raise a red flag? As far as I can tell the only difference between then and now is that he beat you. And you can't stand the thought that he could do that to you unless his head was on straight and he was 100%." The vein growing in Natasha's head gave Tony a small smirk as he began walking away. "Why won't you just accept the fact that his mind is gone?"

"He called me Nat." Tony froze. Natasha's voice was not one of anger, but almost pleading. "He is one person on earth I allow to call me that. His mind isn't gone. I don't know why he shot Fury, or how he downloaded whatever he did, or why he changed Dr. Banner, but everything he did, he did it as Clint Barton. His mind is still there, we just don't know what's going through it."

Something she had said had caused Banner to slowly sit up. "That's it."

The other three turned to the man who had been relatively quiet until this point. "Doctor?" came Steve's voice.

Bruce got off the table, clearly having realized something important. "When Clint agreed to move me, in return I had to give him something. A Stark encryption decoder. He figured, if they had one, they could prevent Stark, or anyone worse, from hacking S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems." He stopped for a moment and looked at Tony. "I'm sorry." Tony answered with a slight nod of understanding. "He must've used it to steal the documents from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network."

"Well now we know how, but we still don't know why." Steve observed.

Bruce smiled. "And that's what he wanted us to figure out."

"What?" asked Natasha, confused.

Bruce looked to the floor as he searched his memory. "Operation Gokovo and 'location H'," he said with a snap.

"Gokovo?" Natasha whispered.

"Agent Barton asked me about both before he locked me in. He said he wanted to see what I knew… but I think he really just wanted me to remember them." Bruce thought out loud.

"He wants us to follow his trail," remarked Steve with a slight grin.

"Alright…" Tony stepped between all three, "If Hansel's leaving us breadcrumbs then…" he turned to Natasha, "Gretel, where are they leading us?"

It took her a moment to answer. "I think I might know somebody who has the answers,"

Natasha and Tony quickly exited the room. Bruce went to follow them when Steve's hand on his arm stopped him. Steve seemed confused about something. "Who's Jason Bourne?"

* * *

Nick Fury awoke in the medical ward to a chilling, female voice. "You know it's funny how the world's greatest sharpshooter managed to shoot you in the exact spot where it would knock you out cold without killing you or doing any real bodily harm." He looked around him to see Natasha sitting beside his bed, cleaning her gun, while Tony, Bruce, and Steve all stood around the room staring at him.

Tony stepped up to the side of his bed with a grin. "Nick, you got some 'splaing to do.

"Agent Romanoff, Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner, Captain. What's going on?

"You tell us." Steve said more as an order than a request.

"We'll save the chat about the adrenaline inducing gas and 'Hulk tranquilizers' for later." Bruce, leaning against the wall, also chimed in.

Fury seemed confused for a moment, before he turned to his wound and touched it with his arm. "Agent Barton escaped?" His tone was as serious as ever, yet not as worried as expected.

"He put a hole in the ship, jumped off, and swung into the Empire State Building." Natasha answered without ever looking away from her gun.

"_After_ shooting you," added Tony.

Natasha's gun made a clicking sound as she loaded a new round of bullets into it. She finally looked at Fury. "Nick, what's going on?"

* * *

"_You rang Sir?" Clint said flatly as he trained his gun on the man._

_Fury turned with a look of confusion. "Tell me you didn't bring the Hulk back aboard the hellicarrier." He seemed to ignore the gun completely._

"_I could, but that would be a lie. The __**truth**__ is that I brought Banner with me to keep everybody busy while you and I have a private chat." His eyes never left his target. "See I don't like lies Sir, and I've got a feeling I've been lied to."_

_Still, Fury seemed unfazed by the gun as stood there. "And what tells you that agent?"_

* * *

_Ivan started to chuckle and with a smile he spoke in a low voice that Clint could barely hear. "А ещё говорят о чести среди воров! Похоже, человек с орлиным зрением видит только врагов, а не тех, кто притворяется другом, а потом наносит удар в спину."_

* * *

_"Something my old pal Ivan said. He thought he was talking to himself.' I don't know everything that's going on and those I trust are stabbing me in the back.' See Ivan ain't so bright, so he doesn't realize that after eight years with a Russian partner I've picked up the language. So now the question becomes obvious. What is really going on?" __The game was starting to piss Clint off._

_Fury stared at the man for a moment before reaching into his desk and pulling out a file. He tossed it onto his desk so Clint could see the cover. It read, '__Operation Gokovo'. "__It appears I picked the right man for the job."_

_Clint's aim faltered slightly as he saw the file, but he quickly returned it to its proper aiming point. "You're bluffing. You said my assignment was over."_

"_It is. Because everything else you do from here on out will not be for S.H.I.E.L.D. There is no plan and there is no procedure. You'll need to do what you see fit with these documents." Fury spoke with a dire tone as he stared down the gun._

_Suddenly it all became clear to Clint. "…You wanted me to know. You sent me so I would realize something was wrong." Although he had stopped aiming as he spoke, he suddenly jerked the gun back into position. "This is all part of some game!" he spat at Fury._

"_You're right," he answered calmly. "But I'm not in control. You are. So now Agent Barton, what are you gonna do?"_

_Thinking quickly, Clint cursed and pulled the decoder out of his pocket. "Plug this into your computer," he said as he tossed the decoder to Fury. After a slight stare, Fury plugged the device into his computer. It waited for a voice command. "Download all files connected to 'Operation Gokovo' and' location H'," Clint commanded._

_Fury stared at Clint for a moment longer as the agent refused to lower his weapon. "Also download all files connected to 'Operation Hammer, Operation Boot, and file 348723." Clint looked at the director, confused. Seeing this, Fury responded, "You want the full picture, now you have it."_

* * *

"For those of us who aren't government cronies, what exactly is 'Operation Gokovo'?" Tony butted in.

It was Natasha, without looking away from Fury, that answered him. "It was the mission that brought me in. Clint was sent to kill me, but he gave me another option. I took it."

Fury stared at Natasha almost apologetically. "There was more to it than that. More than even Clint knew." He looked from her to the rest of them. "He was sent to take out the Black Widow, but when his mission was stalled, the Council thought something was up. They thought he was compromised. So they set up a meeting between Black Widow and the Russian mob. The mob was expecting a file of possible intelligence records, but the Council set up the wrong file for you to steal. It was a backup plan to kill you if Barton failed to do his job. It was after this meeting was set up that Agent Barton finally did approach you.

Natasha was shocked, but nevertheless continued the story for the others. "Said he'd been watching me and was impressed. I reminded him of himself before he came in. He wanted to help me. But I ran. I didn't think I needed him but he caught me. All he had to do was shoot the arrow and I'd be dead, but he gave me an ultimatum. Come in with him or die. I chose life."

Fury took over once again. "When the Council heard of Agent Barton's actions, they were furious. They assumed he was going to run with you, so they ordered that Agent Barton go in your place to the meeting with the wrong file."

"They tried to kill him…" Steve accused.

Bruce also jumped in. "What about her? If they wanted him dead then I doubt their plans for her were any good."

Before anybody else could add on, Fury continued. "After Barton took out the team of Russians, he brought agent Romanoff in. That set the Council straight about him, but you're right. Operation Boot was set up-"

"-to squish the spider?" Tony interrupted as he realized the meaning.

Fury looked back to Natasha. "You were sent on several suicide missions in the hopes that you would be taken out, but you and Barton always made it out. After a while, I convinced the Council you were trustworthy and the operation became inactive… until two days ago."

"Excuse me?" asked Steve incredulously.

"And what exactly happened two days ago?" added Bruce.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. received a transmission from the Russian mob. They know you're alive and they want the file they were promised or they'd release your records to the public. Every sin you ever committed before S.H.I.E.L.D. would be known by the public. The Council couldn't risk the public knowing a former Soviet assassin working for S.H.I.E.L.D., so they reactivated the operation to take you out. With you gone, the Council would deny your involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D."

Natasha finally spoke. "This file they want, 348723? What's in the file?

* * *

"_Russian Nuclear Launch codes." Clint's eyes went huge. "So what now agent Barton?"_

_For a second it seemed as though Clint was going to shoot the gun. The man was fuming. When he finally spoke the words managed to surprise Fury. "Where are we? Where are we over right now?"_

_Fury slowly tapped his screen twice and answered. "We had just passed by the New York Headquarters when you boarded. The Hulk has caused us to stall the city."_

"_Any nearby tall buildings?_

_With a quick glance at the screen he responded. "The Empire State should be just below."_

_Clint thought for a moment. His breathing through his nose had become much deeper in his frustration. "Toss me the drive." Fury tossed Clint the drive, and after catching it with one hand, staring at it, and securing it in his pocket, he returned his gaze to Fury. "It looks like I'm going to have to break my promise to you Sir." Finally, Clint fired the gun._

* * *

Maria Hill stood at the head of the command center as the Council faced her through the director's screen. She had been summoned by them for an immediate meeting.

"Agent Hill, with Director Fury's condition you are now acting director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Your first task is to arrest Agent Romanoff. We have reason to believe she, along with Agent Barton, helped to orchestrate the theft of several high security files which are of national security. She is to be taken into custody immediately at all costs. Is that understood?

After a quick moment of shock, she answered. "Understood." The screen turned to black and Agent Hill began making her way to the medical bay. "I need all available agents to report to the medical ward. Agent Romanoff is not to leave this ship!"

* * *

"Barton's gonna hand over the codes to the Russians in exchange for her records!" Tony exclaimed in frustration.

"Hey, give the man a little more credit." Steve angrily told Tony.

"Guys…" Bruce tried to interject.

"What on earth would lead me to do that?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"Well clearly he was trying to save his partner." Steve responded.

"Guys…" Bruce tried again.

With a glance at Natasha, Tony continued, "Yeah, clearly she's a damsel in distress.

Natasha whipped her head to face Tony. "Excuse me?"

Bruce exploded. "SHUT UP!" That got their attention. Bruce looked at Fury. "You said the operation was activated two days ago."

Fury sighed. "I've stalled as long as I can."

All four of them stared at one another before looking back to Fury. "How much time do we have?" Natasha asked.

There was a beeping sound in the room as all the doors closed. Each one clicked into place and became locked instantly.

"I'd say you just ran out."

* * *

The medical ward was surrounded. The acting director stepped forward, gun at the ready, and called through the door, "Agent Romanoff, come out with your hands above your head!" Unsurprisingly, there was no response. With a nod to the agent by the control pad, the door unlocked and slid open. "Agent!-" Director Hill began, but she stopped as she realized the room was empty. Empty except for the unconscious Nick Fury lying in the bed, seemingly asleep. There was a screen next to his bed with the words 'System Override' covering the screen. Stark had still been in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems.

An urgent voice in her ear broke through. "Agent Hill, we have an unauthorized takeoff on the helipad." Shutting her eyes in frustration, she began cursing the names of Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Natasha Romanoff.

* * *

**What do you think? Let me know! Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everybody! So I know its been four weeks since my last update and I'm really sorry about that... some stuff got in the way. But to make it up to you this chapter is about twice as long as usual and has a whole lot going on. The whole hiatus thing shouldn't happen again.**

**Shoutout to my awesome reviewers, including my first two anonymous reviewers!- Bribona, mellbell12123, KatieLovesPeterPan, OwlMay, photo41 (x2), tic tac toe 03, Liliththestormgoddess, Poison Apple, Shane-O, Tetsu-sama, PoidsPlume, Sinkme, and Anonymous/Guest**

**Since a few people were confused after last chapter and its been a while, here's a recap of everything that's happened so far to refresh your memories!**

**Eight years ago Clint was sent on a mission to kill the Black Widow. After watching her, he requested more time, causing the council to set up a meeting between the Russian mob and the Black Widow in case Hawkeye failed. They sent a fake file to be stolen by the Black Widow, which she was supposed to give to the mob, who would kill her when they realized it was not what they came for. However, Clint finally approached the Black Widow and went against orders to convince her to come in. The council took this as an act of treason and believed he was compromised, so they requested he go to the meeting instead to tell the mob the file was gone, which was supposed to result in his death. He survived however, telling the mob the file they wanted was gone and the Black Widow was dead. After he brought Natasha in and everything worked out, the council dropped suspicion of him, but repeatedly sent Natasha on dangerous missions in the hope she would be killed, but she never did. In the present set after the movie, the mob sees a picture of Natasha in the paper after the New York battle, so they blackmail S.H.I.E.L.D. to get the file by threatening to release the Black Widow's files, which would cause an uproar and most likely get the already-on-thin-ice-from-the-NY-battle S.H.I.E.L.D. shut down. The council calls for Natasha to be killed in order to cover the scandal up but Fury asks for time. He sends Clint and Cap to meet with the mob, which results in Clint realizing he's been lied to about what file the mob wants. Clint tricks Bruce into coming to the hellicarrier with him and Cap by promising to relocate him but instead uses gas to turn him into the Hulk so that the Hulk can cause a distraction while Clint demands information from Fury at gunpoint. Clint learns that the mob really was promised a file containing nuclear launch codes from the council years earlier. Realizing Fury only wanted to help save Natasha, he shoots him in the shoulder and runs. Natasha and Tony are aboard the hellicarrier after Natasha grew suspicious when Clint went on the mission with Cap without his bow and after they had agreed to be partners on future missions. Tony and Cap stop the Hulk while Natasha tries to stop Clint, but he beats her and escapes by blowing a hole in the side of the ship and jumping out. He survives the fall by grappling onto the Empire State building and flying into a window, but is injured. Natasha, Steve, Tony, and Bruce question Fury about Clint's actions, resulting in him telling them everything and giving the location of Clint's meeting. The council calls on Agent Hill to temporarily lead S.H.I.E.L.D. and to capture Natasha, but before she can the group escape the hellicarrier on a ship to try and catch up to Clint.**

* * *

The two men were located in a makeshift office in the back of the warehouse. The first man sat quietly at a desk, deep in thought while the other paced the room back and forth in a frenzy.

Ivan's voice rose in anger. "Где, черт возьми, он такой? Я дал ублюдок двенадцать часов_!" Where the hell is he? I gave the bastard twelve hours!_

The other man simply just sat the desk, calm and tranquil. "Расслабьтесь. Он будет здесь." _Relax. He will be here._

"Что делать, если он не придет?" _What if he doesn't come?_ Ivan asked in a panic. He looked out into the warehouse through the office door at all the men they had as they loaded the truck of supplies. He approached the seated man. "Все это было зря!" _All of this will have been for nothing!_

Suddenly the man grabbed Ivan by the throat with a hard, violent grip. He leaned in to be sure Ivan could hear his words. "Shut. Up." He released the man. "Наш партнер заверил меня Hawk покажут." _Our partner has assured me the Hawk will show._

Ivan rubbed his throat as he spoke again. "Как мы знаем, что можем доверять ему человек, которого мы никогда не видели?" _How do we know we can trust him a man we have never seen?_

The man looked at Ivan as if he was pathetic. "Не надо. Вы доверяете мне, и я ему доверяю. Это моя работа, чтобы принимать решения. Это ваша работа, чтобы сделать, как я говорю. Понимать_?" Don't. You trust me and I trust him. It is my job to make the decisions. It is your job to do as I say. Understand?"_

"Да, босс." _Yes boss._ Ivan answered with a hint of anger.

A man appeared at the door, and without a word gave a nod to both men. "Хорошо. Теперь идем навстречу нашим гостем. Он приехал_." Good. Now go greet our guest. He has arrived._

* * *

Clint stood in the center of the warehouse studying his surroundings. It wasn't big. There was a second level of rafters above them about twenty-five feet up and in the back of the room, there was a truck halfway baked into the warehouse. It took up the biggest garage door but there was another beside it, but it was closed. There had to be at least twenty-five men in the place, each with a fully loaded gun and a grudge. They had been piling boxes onto the truck, but had stopped upon seeing him enter. The closest man, who was tall and built, approached him confidently. Without asking, he grabbed Clint's bow. Clint held it firmly in his grasp, eying the man, before slowly letting go. The man gave a quick nod to the satchel on his back, silently demanding Clint remove the arrow satchel and hand them over as well. With a smug smirk, the man backed away from him.

Clint's eyes shifted their hard glare from the man with his weapon to the smaller, fatter, approaching man who had a sarcastic smile on his face. "Ah! Mr. Hawkeye! So happy to see you have made it." Ivan stopped a few feet short of Clint, meeting his glare. His eyes shifted to notice a large, poorly wrapped bandage on the archer's left arm. "Problems?"

Without a hitch, Clint answered. "Cut myself on some glass. Can we deal?"

Ivan gazed at the man for a moment before smiling. "What is your hurry? Don't you want to chat with your old pal Ivan?" he asked sarcastically.

"I'd like to shoot you again if that's what you're asking." Clint answered coldly.

Immediately Ivan began to laugh hysterically. "See that is why I like you, Agent Hawkeye. Always good for a laugh." Ivan looked around to the men watching the encounter. "By the way, some of the boys here would like to thank you for our last meeting."

Clint eyes shifted to the men watching him. His face never hindered from its hard, emotionless state. "I always got time for fans. Although you do realize that if you try anything-?"

"-S.H.I.E.L.D. will run in, what is the term, guns hot?" Ivan retorted with a smile.

At this, Clint's lips twitched a smile._ "Blazing_, but no." Clint chuckled to himself before continuing. "No, by the time S.H.I.E.L.D. gets here the only thing they'll need to do is clean up the mess."

At this a loud, obnoxious laugh filled the area. The man it belonged to slowly approached from the back of the warehouse from an office door. The man looked to be a bit older than Ivan and was bald. Without asking it was obvious to Clint that this was the man in charge by the suit he wore. Still, the man wore a wicked smile to go with his laugh. "Agent Barton… finally. Ivan did not lie. Quite the funny man."

Clint eyed the man for a moment. "We met?"

"Not officially," the man began, pausing momentarily, "but I know all I need to know about you.

"Ivan, have you been spreading rumors about me again?" Clint asked as if he caught the dog eating out of the trash.

Surprisingly, the unknown man drew a smile from this with a slight chuckle. "Yes well... while Ivan may have a clear opinion of you, I look to much better intelligence sources for information. For instance, the news. Apparently some crazy man thought himself a bird and fell from the sky before crashing through the window of the Empire State building." The man's smile suddenly no longer seemed welcoming. There was still a smile, but it threatened more than it welcomed. The man drew closer to Clint until they were eye to eye. "S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't outside, are they?" he glanced quickly at Clint's arm. "And somehow I don't think your body is in any type of fighting shape."

Clint stood there for a moment, staring down the man. He managed a small smirk as he spoke. "Well now I'm embarrassed. You know everything about me and I know nothing about you… except that you clearly look for quantity over quality in henchmen." He could feel the men in the room gripping their guns hard, but he did not look. Instead he lowered his voice so that the man would have to listen when he spoke. "Let me tell you something. Whether we're face to face or you're a mile away…" Clint put one arm out and cocked the other back to feign firing an arrow, "that's all it takes. Now may I ask who it is I'm threatening?

Ivan took a step towards the two men. "Agent Barton, this is Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky.

Without breaking his stare at Felix, Clint replied, "Great. Now that we've broken the ice, can we do business?

Felix turned away from Clint and slowly walked back towards Ivan. "Ah yes… you were to bring us the codes."

"And you were to bring the Black Widow's file," Clint responded without budging.

"Of course, you do realize we have copies?" the bald man retorted back.

The frustrated Clint through his arms up before answering in a seriously pissed-off tone. "I'd just like proof you have anything at all!"

Felix paused briefly before motioning to Ivan. Ivan walked over to a table set up across the room and picked up a file. He walked back and handed it to Felix, who in turn tossed it on the ground in front of Clint, knocking several pages out. Clint squatted down to look at the papers. He slid the top pages out with a hand and gazed at everything on the papers. It was the real deal. He had seen it all before. Each page held its own story, some with dreadful, disgusting pictures. They were horror stories, each one worse than the last. The deeds described were despicable in nature, and in many cases unforgivable. Of course, it was worse for him because he knew more. He knew everything. Whether or not it ever made it to paper he knew every last act and sin ever committed by the Black Widow and he knew _every_ last detail about _every_ one. The stories had been told to him years ago by a Black Widow who had died and gone away, leaving Natasha Romanoff in her place.

"Well?" Felix asked impatiently.

With one last look, Clint stood and looked to the two men. "You get the codes; Black Widow's file never goes public. Do we have a deal?"

Felix seemed confused for a moment. "Is that all?" He almost seemed angry in asking the question. Clint only stood in place with his same, hard look. "…Unbelievable" spat Felix in anger.

"Something wrong?" asked an annoyed Clint.

Felix's anger seemed to be replaced by amusement as he began, "You struck me as a somewhat intelligent man, Agent Barton. I'm surprised to find you are just as stupid as I was told. Here you are with the key to total destruction, _the downfall of nations,_ in your hands and all you ask for is protection for one person, not even yourself… You don't ask how I know your name and you don't ask for my source." He let out a chuckle before he continued in a softer voice. "You must know that we won't let you leave here alive. I'm sure you have a back-up plan in case we ever do want to use this file ever again, but still… I hope you don't mind my asking agent, but why come here and do business with us?"

Clint remained emotionless, although he looked to the ground quickly in thought. "What can I say? I've got a thing for Russians." He held a straight face for a moment before smiling and chuckling to himself. Felix also smirked at the jest of the dead man. "No… I've got a feeling." His smile disappeared quicker than it had come. "Call it an instinct. You'll never get the chance to use these codes." He pulled the flashdrive out of his pocket and tossed it into the hands of Felix like it was nothing. "Yeah, they're real. This instinct though, it's pretty big. See you strike me as the type of guy who likes to brag Felix. You clearly have some master plan that you may have some help on, but in reality it's _your_ masterpiece." Clint turned his head to look at all the men surrounding him before continuing to explain. "Now I can already tell you think shit about the guys around here, especially Ivan, and who could really blame you, but that begs the question, who will you brag to? Not these idiots. Its needs to be somebody intelligent enough to understand the genius behind it," he smiled at the angry reaction from the men on the upper level, "… _somebody_ who didn't realize your intellectual superiority before this… _somebody_ who's made you look stupid in the past… _somebody_… you're about to kill." As he had made his speech he had slowly made his way closer and closer to Felix and they were now face to face once again. Clint wore an expression of hatred now. "I came here for my own damn reasons, but I'm the one _you_ wanted here. You wanna tell me everything so when I die my last thought will be 'I've been beaten by somebody better than me'. So go ahead, spill your little secrets. Dazzle me with your brilliance, but I warn you, we'll just see about who walks out of here alive once we're done."

Felix stared at Clint for a long time. His expression slowly changed from anger, to indifference, to confidence. "Perhaps I've misjudged you, Agent Barton. Still…" he said as he waved to one of the men near the truck. "I believe you'll find that my plan will exceed your expectations." As he spoke, the man approached them with a large case. Felix stepped away from Clint to retrieve the case, before setting it on the ground and opening it. What happened next shocked Clint to his core. With a wicked smile the man reached into the case with both hands and slowly lifted out the reason for Clint's self-loathing, Loki's scepter. "Still so confident?"

"Where did you get that?" Clint uttered in shock.

"How's about I let my partner fill you in on the details? I believe he's an old friend of yours." Felix smiled viciously. "Ivan…"

Surprisingly quickly, Ivan pulled out his gun and trained it on Clint. "Move and die."

Clint stared in anger for a moment at Ivan, slowly putting his hands up, but then his eyes shot to the scepter, which drew closer and closer. Wanting to do nothing but resist, Clint watched as the tip of the scepter, glowing blue, crept closer, until… it touched his chest.

* * *

All at once he felt himself disappear from the warehouse. It was different this time. He was now in an all-white room, bent over in pain, with an arm to the floor holding himself up. He stood slowly to face the familiar figure in front of him.

"Agent Barton, how extraordinary. I feared you would not make it."

He could barely hold in his shock. "Loki?"

It was him. Loki. He stood a short distance from Clint, arm behind his back with a smile. "Tell me, how is it that whenever I seem to encounter you or Agent Romanoff you always seem to be on a quest to save one another?" He forced a laugh. "Amusing isn't it?"

"How-?" Clint began in confusion.

"-Does it matter? Does it really matter?" Loki looked at him as if he were an ignorant child. "You mortals have an unyielding desire to understand yet always ignore why. When truth is presented to you, it's met with hostility and resentment. You see Barton, the reason why you're here is simple." Loki began to slowly walk a circle around Clint. "As I presumed from our last encounter, you're easy to control. Threaten Romanoff and you, the black knight wearing white; turn against your agency, your friends, and your country."

"I work for the government, ethics aren't exactly required." Clint shot back without a hint of sarcasm.

As Loki came full circle he stopped, now closer to Clint. He seemed to look straight through him. "It's too bad… In my current state I can only communicate with you through the scepter, nothing more." He smiled. "You were a worthy follower, but it appears my use of you has run out. You see Barton, how I've done all this is irrelevant because you're about to meet you're end. You will die and the legacy you will leave behind…" his face turned serious again, "is war. With the codes, I will lead a nuclear strike worldwide. You Midgardians believe yourselves to be complex but I see the true simplicity of your species. Once a shot is fired, there can be no peace." His pace picked up as he spoke and his voice slowly grew louder. "Pointless fighting will erupt amongst men who never before had wished the other ill. Trust will disappear. Dictators, democracies, and all other forms of government shall fall, one by one. As the world falls to chaos the people of Midgard will look to a _new_ leader in desperation!" Loki had turned away from Clint, envisioning his plan's conclusion.

"-As a king." Clint stared at him in disgust.

Loki did not turn back. He only stood in his fury. "A GOD!"

There was no way to hide the disgust and hatred on Clint's face. "Well there's just one problem with that… You suck."

This caught Loki off guard. He turned back to Clint. "Pardon?"

Clint began to step closer to Loki. He held nothing back now. "Not only have I read about you, but I've watched tape, heard eye witness accounts from your brother, and even had a short tenure under your wannabe-magician ass and they all have lead me to the same conclusion…" he leaned in close to Loki, "you're a natural born failure." He stepped back and laughed at the thought. "Seriously, when have you ever won at anything? Daddy liked Thor better, you were king of Asgard for like two days before getting fired, you couldn't kill Thor even when he had no powers, your dad dropped you into a wormhole after you blew up your real dad, I've never heard anything about your real mom so I'm assuming you're a bastard, no offense, join the club, and you found the most elite group of alien warriors in the galaxy to invade 'puny' earth and still got your ass handed to you." He finally took a breath as he stared in Loki's furious eyes."

"I controlled you." Loki took a step towards Clint.

"I shot an arrow in your face." Clint took a step towards Loki.

"I caught it." Loki took another step closer.

"It blew up." Clint took the final step so that the two were face to face.

"It appears you'll meet your ending the same way as your pathetic friend. The one I stabbed through the heart. He loved to talk in the same defiant tone as you. That insolent swine is dead and forgotten now, just as you too shall soon be." Loki spat out each word.

"We done?" Clint asked angrily as he turned and began to walk away from Loki.

Loki paused a moment, watching him walk away. "She won't weep for you." Clint stopped. "For all that you have done for one another; the pathetic truth is that she won't shed a tear when you're gone. She much preferred you to live, but only so that she could look at herself and fictitiously believe there to be some sense of value inside her! You, the man who gave everything to save her from her evils, will only be a quickly forgotten memory to that morally daft sprite of a woman! And in the end, you, the noble butcher of your own people, will have died an insignificant death for some petty, worthless scum!" Clint turned back and ran at Loki, throwing a fist directly at his face, but it flew threw him as he seemed to disappear. Loki was now directly behind him. "_Now_ we're done."

* * *

There was a white flash and once again, Clint was standing in front of Felix and Ivan. Both men eyed him suspiciously. Felix went to touch the scepter to his own chest but Clint stopped him. "I'll save you the time; he wants you to shoot me."

The two men both glanced at one another. Felix laughed to himself and nodded to Ivan. Ivan, still pointing his gun at Clint stepped forward as Felix began to walk away. "Now why is it you do not seem scared?"

Clint gazed at the barrel of the gun. "I'm not scared of you Ivan. I'm not scared of your boys, your boss, or your gun."

Ivan's lips twitched a smile. "So the Hawkeye truly is afraid of nothing as he faces death."

Just as Ivan aimed to shoot Clint's voice stopped him. "No." Ivan looked at the man in confusion. "That's not true," Clint nodded to the rafters behind Ivan, "she scares the hell out of me."

Ivan turned quickly, as did every man in the room. Standing in the middle of the rafters with a dead Russian lying at her feet was Natasha Romanoff. Her arms were crisscrossed as she fired bullets into the closest Russians on each side of her. As every man in the room trained their gun on her, she held a hand up, signaling them all to halt. "Never take your eye off the prize boys."

Ivan spun in realization but he was not in time. Before he could fire, the entire wall behind Clint exploded. It was not a large blast, but it did knock most of the men to the floor, including Clint, who hit the ground hard, and through the flames leaped the Hulk.

"RAAAA!" The Hulk roared at the Russian men as Ironman flew in beside him.

"What he said," echoed the voice of Tony Stark.

The Russians scrambled to their feet and began firing immediately. Natasha fired two more shots before realizing she needed to move. Immediately, she leaped over the rafters, seemingly to fall hard to the floor, but instead she landed on the truck, which was unexcitingly moving in reverse into the warehouse. Felix leapt with a roll to avoid the truck. Inside the truck, Steve shot out the window with one hand while steering with the other. Natasha stayed low on the roof of the truck until it came to a sudden stop, sending her rolling off the back. As she summersaulted in midair, she sent out four shots, each hitting a target. She landed on the shoulders of Ivan, who had been staring at the Hulk, and neatly flipped him onto his back with her legs before making a clean landing.

In the rafters, Tony flew through the men, knocking several over to fall hard to the floor, but leaving several men to shoot at him as he flew into open space. He turned to face them as they unloaded on him. Each man quickly ran out of ammo and they all stared at him in disbelief. "Wait for it," came Tony's voice. Suddenly there was a set of small explosions from devices Tony had planted while he flew through. The bottoms of the rafters gave out, sending the remaining men to the floor.

Clint looked up from the floor in pain, to see Felix running out the exit with the codes. Felix jumped inside a black van and drove it out the now open door the truck had been blocking. Thinking quickly, he looked around to find the Russian who had his bow and arrows. He found the man who was among the majority of the men, who fired futilely at the Hulk, who was swatting the men away like flies. He ran at the man, arrows on his back and bow in his left hand, who saw him coming and tried to throw a shoot at him. Clint ducked the shot and knocked away the gun with his left hand and threw three quick right jabs into the man's face. The Russian broke away and swung the bow at him but Clint ducked it again. Clint sent a kick into the man's stomach, before grabbing his bow away from him and swinging it against the man's head, knocking him over. Grabbing an arrow, Clint ran so that he could see the shrinking van again and slowly pulled the arrow back. In his focus, he didn't see the Russian man get back to his feet and grab his gun.

Steve shot out the window of the truck, trying to avoid the hail of fire coming his way. He quickly glanced in his mirror and could see a Russian man with his gun trained on Clint. Instinctively, he threw open his door and slung out his shield. The shield rebounded off a wall before slamming into the man, knocking him out cold. The shield buzzed in front of Clint, throwing him off and sending his arrow into the wall before rebounding off another wall and finally flying through the open passenger door of the truck and into Steve's hand.

Natasha had opened the back of the truck and was knocking off every box that the men had piled in to make room. Clint, who had gotten his satchel of arrows back, spotted Ivan sneaking out the door as he tried to get a visual on the van. It was gone. He slammed Ivan's head against the wall as the man tried to escape his grasp. "Going somewhere?"

Tony landed next to him abruptly. "Time to go."

Steve began driving the truck out the opening. Tony grabbed Clint, who in turn grabbed Ivan and flew to the back of the truck, throwing both men inside with a thud. There was still a few boxed in the back that cushioned their fall. As the truck drove away from the warehouse, an unmasked Tony and Natasha stood at the back of the open truck, eyeing the building.

"So what do you think are in these boxes?" Tony questioned. Natasha turned and eyed him suspiciously. "I mean… do you think it's flammable?"

Clint, holding his head in pain and lying against the boxes looked up to see the two standing there. "Hey… where's Bruce?"

Before anyone could respond the warehouse out in the distance exploded with a loud boom. From the large flames, a green figure leapt out and into the sky. With a few bounds, the Hulk was eventually caught up to the truck as it slowed to a stop, allowing a shirtless, now human Bruce Banner to board. Tony closed the door behind him and the truck drove off.

* * *

**For all those who wanted to see more Clint and Natasha, don't worry, next chapter! A few of my reviewers differed in opinions last chapter so let me know what your opinions are! Reviewing has literally never been easier! Did you like the action? How's my Loki impression? What did you think of the long rants? What did you think about Clint's reaction to Natasha's file? How do you feel about Felix? Ivan? There's literally countless things to comment on and I want to know what you guys think! Next chapter should be up in about a week at the latest! Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9 part 1

**Hey guys so after a bunch of technical difficulties I'm back! This is only the first part of the chapter but I needed to update and its kinda the moment a lot of people have been waiting for so I'm putting it up right away. Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I just finished it.**

**Shoutout to my reviewers!- KateBishop, GregsMadHatter, Poison Apple, KatieLovesPeterPan, Sinkme, tic tac toe 03, Tetsu-sama, Bribona, TheFictionalMe, discordchick, TP, azure blue espeon, Liliththestormgoddess, mellbell12123, and Guest/Anonymous**

**When we last saw our heroes they had just rescued Clint from the Russians after giving Felix the codes and they were driving off...**

* * *

Clint awoke with a jolt. He was sitting in a chair, facing the floor while sweat dripped off his face. It only took him a moment to realize his situation. His hands were cuffed behind his back, holding him to the chair. He didn't have to look up to know who was in the room with him.

"You shouldn't have done it," came Natasha's voice. She was leaning against the wall, staring at the floor.

Clint glanced up at her slightly as he spoke. "What happened?" Behind her, Clint could see a door and a window showing an airplane hangar with a S.H.I.E.L.D. jet.

"You passed out," answered Natasha. She walked closer to Clint and sat, leaning forward, in a chair a few feet from him. "I'm guessing you haven't slept in a while. That combined with the damage done to your body made it a miracle you lasted as long as you did."

Clint suddenly realized that his torso and his arms were wrapped up tight in bandages. No doubt the work of Bruce Banner. It helped more than he would admit. "It's not that bad."

"Good, because it's about to get worse." There was no sign of emotion on her face as she spoke.

Clint smiled slightly. "And here I thought I'd finally found a face happy to see me."

"That depends…" Natasha began, not returning the smile, "who are _you_ exactly? Because I don't know if it's the fighting, the lying, or Loki's scepter on your chest that have me wondering if you're still the Clint Barton I know."

Clint lost the smile on his face quickly and gazed back at the Russian. "That explains the interrogation. I take it you caught the end of the show?"

For the first time, Natasha's face slowly showed an emotion… anger. "What the hell is going on here Clint? Eight years we've known each other and not once in that time have you ever lied to me. It's the reason I've stayed with S.H.I.E.L.D this long. You've always had my back and you always told me the truth." Her eyes seemed to shiver as she spoke. "Why lie now?"

"I tried to warn you." Clint reminded her.

"You mean the hellicarrier…" Natasha began as she recalled the memory, "after you set the Hulk loose and shot Fury? " Her tone made clear the absurdity of the idea.

"To be fair Coulson always made the plans…" Clint shrugged.

"Why not come to me with the information right away, especially when you realized something was wrong?" she asked heatedly. "You know better than anyone I _don't_ need protecting."

"This was different." Clint's voice raised slightly. I couldn't afford for you to know something was wrong."

"Feel free to explain." Natasha said as she leaned back in her chair.

Clint paused for a moment and stared hard at Natasha. "For as long as you've been an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., you've been ready to leave." His voice was calm as he spoke. "You don't trust them… but you trust me… and the same has always gone from me to you." Clint smiled slightly and let out a small laugh. "If I had ever lied to you, you'd have broke me and left ages ago." He paused again as the small smile disappeared, looking at the floor. "But when I saw the assignment it was different." His mind replayed the meeting with Fury in his mind. "At first I wanted to tell you, but then I realized something…" he looked up at her, "You'd just disappear… be gone forever."

"And if I did?" She gave no ground as she spoke. "You had a life with S.H.I.E.L.D. long before me."

The statement seemed to annoy him. He continued to gaze at her as he began, "That wasn't a life. That was a job." He looked away, shaking his head. "Shooting wherever Fury pointed, I was no different than you back then." At this she looked away from him slightly. "I didn't need relationships with other people." He hesitated for a long moment before looking back up to her. "Then we met." Her face shifted back to meet his stare. "For eight years we've both had somebody in our lives we connect to." His voice grew as he continued to speak. "Somebody to trust, to confide in, to always have each other's backs!" He grew quiet again and spoke much softer now. "I never cared about someone more than myself before we met." He leaned in slightly. "I can't go back to life without you."

Natasha sat there for a moment without saying a word. Her expression still showed no emotion, but her eyes almost seemed to water as they shook. She finally spoke, "So you go and stab everybody in the back, and give away codes that could cause a nuclear holocaust?" There was clear anger in her voice. "I've always known you were stupid Clint," she spat, "I just didn't realize how stupid you were until now." She stood turned away from him before spinning back to face him. "What about Banner, and Cap, and even Stark?"

"What about them?" Clint asked irritably.

"You could have trusted them!" she angrily exclaimed. "They may be lost like we were but they'll do what they think is right. The Avengers could _be_ something." There almost seemed to be hope in her voice with her last statement.

He looked up at her coldly. "Is that what you tell yourself? We were never lost, Natasha. We always knew what we were doing, we just never cared. The rest of them, even the big guy in the sky, they aren't like that." He leaned back in his chair and looked away. "The Avengers worked once because we all wanted to live. They're here for the codes, not to save us." He looked back at her. "What do you think they'd do if they knew what was in that file?"

At this, she turned in anger from him and began to walk away. She stopped suddenly and spoke without turning back to him. "They've come this far to help the man who lied to them all and nearly got them killed. They know I've been compromised… that there's red in my ledger, but they trust us both enough to stop the man with Loki's scepter. So are we gonna finish this or not?"

"I don't have a choice." Clint looked at the ground for a moment before looking back up to Natasha, who was still turned away from him. "I'm compromised too."

Natasha turned her head back and stared at Clint in a speechless confusion. Her eyes shivered and she turned and walked back to where Clint sat. She looked down at him for a moment with a hard face before she finally acted. With a quick jerk she threw a right hook across Clint's face that nearly knocked the entire chair over. He spat out a small amount of blood before looking back up at her. "That's from Bruce." She turned and walked away towards a door at the other end of the room. "We need to move. The others are meeting us back at the jet." She opened the door and swung it closed behind her, leaving him by himself.

"Aren't you gonna uncuff me?" angrily asked in a low, mocking tone so only he could hear it. The cuffs instantly dropped from behind his back and he stood up. He made his way over to the door, licking his lips where he had been punched and tasted blood. He grabbed the door handle and turned it. He rolled his eyes in frustration at the discovery it was locked.

* * *

So what do you think? What you expected? ** Review** and let me know what you think! With the new Fanfiction every review, follow, and favorite counts so if you like the story be sure to do so! Part 2 of the chapter should be up soon and then after that things will get interesting. There's about 3 or 4 chapters left depending on how I write it and I'd like to post the last 2 up at the same time with an epilogue after that to talk about my final thoughts and how the actual story is different from the original outline. Fun stuff like that. Hope you're enjoying!


	10. Chapter 9 part 2

**Hey guys, I'm back with Chapter 9 part 2, sorry for the wait, I promise I'm working hard to get this thing done, but at the same time I wanna do a good job with it.**

**Shoutout to my awesome reviewers!- TP, GregsMadHatter, and Poison Apple**

**Last we saw the gang, Natasha had locked Clint in a room in an airport hangar after their little spat. What's the rest of the gang up to as Felix is still out there with the scepter and the codes? Let's find out!**

**Oh and if anybody gets confused with all the scientifical stuff its okay. I think the important stuff is clear enough.**

* * *

Erick Selvig got up out of his chair and slowly walked towards the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of coffee before turning back into the dimly lit room, not noticing the new figures standing in the shadows.

"Knock-knock doc," came a familiar voice.

Dr. Selving jumped back, startled at the sound. It took him a moment to clearly see the three figures and calm himself. "Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner, Captain Rogers! What are you all doing here?"

"Why is it lately that nobody ever seems happy to see me?" Tony asked the other two men as they stepped forward.

"Sorry to startle you Dr. Selvig, but we could use your help on something." Steve said as he reached out to shake the man's hand.

Selvig finally laughed and smiled at the three men before shaking the Captain's hand. "It's quite alright. Please come in! Sit. Relax. I'll do whatever I can to help." He walked back to his chair and took a seat. "But how did you find me? S.H.I.E.L.D. told me only a select few were to be given my location." He asked with confusion.

Steve had taken a seat on a couch while Tony sat on the arm of the couch. It was Bruce, still standing, who answered. "Fury read us into 'Operation Hammer'. How goes the search for the rainbow bridge?"

"And since when do we not fit the description of select few?" Tony chime in.

Selvig smiled. "My apologies Mr. Stark, and to answer your question Dr. Banner it goes quite well. My time working with the tesseract has given me great insight into the workings of the energy force that allowed Thor to travel between worlds." There was excitement in his voice. "Of course there is still much work to be done and my calculations must go through great revision before any testing can be done."

Steve stared hard at the man. "What about your time under the tesseract?" Dr. Selvig, who had been sipping his coffee, froze. "I'm sorry doctor but we need to know as much as possible about the effects the tesseract had on your mind so we can help our friend."

"Friend is a strong word…" muttered Tony.

"Tony!" Steve snapped.

"Cap, friends don't give away government secrets." Tony continued.

"So you pay for just anybody's new apartment now?" Steve answered sarcastically.

Tony turned in amusement towards Steve. "I'm sorry, is that jealousy Captain?" Steve looked the other way in annoyance. Tony gave him a light slap on the shoulder. "Stick to red, white, and blue Cap. Green is a much better color on Banner than it is you."

"Are you two done?" asked Bruce. When neither man replied, he gestured to Selvig. "Your report doctor…"

The doctor just stared down at the floor, clearly trying to avoid the question. "I gave my report to S.H.I.E.L.D. after New York. Surely if you've been read into this operation you could easily attain a file as simple as that."

The three men exchanged quick glances before Bruce continued. "Your report outlined your belief in how the scepter's connection to the energy of the tesseract allowed it to rewrite the beta waves in your brain and bioscript you and all others it came into contact with into doing as the controller of the scepter, Loki, commanded." He stepped closer to Selvig, drawing his eyes. "What we need to know is what would happen if the energy source was taken away."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to be more specific Dr. Banner. The more I know about the situation, the more I can help. Who exactly is controlling the scepter?" Dr. Selvig asked.

Again, the three men exchanged looks. "Not the good guys." Steve answered coldly.

"How did they obtain it?" Selvig inquired.

"It's not important." Steve quickly responded.

"We don't know." Tony clarified with a quick look at the Captain.

Selvig looked between the men for a moment before speaking. "Well with the tesseract gone, the scepter has no energy source, and therefore cannot control anyone it touches as it did with myself and Agent Barton."

Bruce thought out loud, "Well what about the connection between the scepter and the one who controlled it? There must have been some kind of neural connection between Loki and the scepter to direct the energy right?".

"Without the tesseract to power the scepter no connection could be established." Selvig explained. "And even if it was, it would be useless."

All the men became silent in thought, trying to think of how the scepter came into play. Surprisingly, it was Steve who spoke first. "What if the connection was never broken?"

The others all looked at him. Bruce seemed to understand and clarified. "You mean what if the connection between Loki and the scepter was still there even after it was taken from him and the tesseract was gone?"

All eyes shot to Selvig. "Theoretically, if Loki was able to remain connected mentally to the scepter, he still wouldn't be able to control anyone."

Steve looked to the floor, defeated, but Tony was still thinking aloud. "Could he communicate with them?"

Again they all looked to Selvig. "Theoretically… it's a possibility."

Tony turned to a now re-energized Steve. "Remind me to give you a Cap snack."

"So Loki is still connected to the scepter which is in the hands of someone other than S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Selvig asked incredulously.

"Details aren't important." Tony quickly assured.

Bruce took over. "The good news is that it's one man with no backup. He'll never be able to use the codes if he has no help to break into a Russian military base to use them."

"We've even got his partner back at the jet to tell us where he's going next." Steve added.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple gentleman." Dr. Selvig butted in.

"What part of that was simple?" Steve asked.

Selvig looked at the men grimly. "While Agent Barton and I were under Loki's control he had Agent Barton tell him about all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies. If we are correct and Loki is in contact with this man then he will have all the knowledge he needs in order to recruit help for whatever it is he is planning with these codes you speak of."

* * *

Two guards stood at attention at the gate of the Russian Military base. Everything was quiet when suddenly one of the men spotted something. There was a figure out in the distance. Both guards pointed their guns to the object, only to realize there was not just one figure. More and more figures rapidly appeared in the distance, each with a red dot to signal their presence. Both guards looked to their chests and realized the red dots were pointing directly at them.

Felix stood with his new comrades and smiled a wicked smile. He looked side to side at his men and spoke, "Gentlemen, get to work," as gunfire erupted.

* * *

Steve stood up from the couch. "We're gonna need to act fast."

Tony also got up and looked to Selvig. "Yeah, but we're gonna need a little more firepower, and since anybody on this planet or in their right minds won't help us, is there a way to contact Thor?"

"Not any direct way," Dr. Selvig reached for a book and opened to a page with a man with a long sword standing at attention, "but there is always Heimdall, the all-seeing gatekeeper. If he sees that you need help, he will send for Thor immediately."

Steve turned to Tony and Bruce. "Then we can't waste any more time. We need to move now."

* * *

"We've pinpointed the location of the jet, ma'am. You were right. It's near the S.H.I.E.L.D base where Erik Selvig is being held," relayed a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at the controls of the hellicarrier.

Maria Hill stood at the main controls staring at the screen in front of her. The screen held a list of files, including Operation Boot, Location H, file 348723, Operation Gokovo, and lastly, Operation Hammer. "We're close. Let's move."

* * *

Tony, Bruce, and Steve all walked through the small door to the closed off hangar. Inside, the stolen jet was waiting, as Natasha walked out the back of it. Tony pointed to the hanger door switch. "Bruce, open the hanger door." As Bruce headed towards the controls Tony and Steve approached Natasha. "Where's birdbrain? We need to go," Tony rushed.

A loud crashing sound rang out as a chair broke through the window of a small room in the hangar. With the window now destroyed, Clint hopped through with a cold look at Natasha. "Birdbrain's right here."

"Good. We'll need you to pilot." Steve called from inside the jet.

Something big and round rolled out the back of the jet, covered in a blanket. It tried to squirm away before receiving a hard kick in the side from Natasha. As it yelped in pain Tony removed the cover from it to reveal a bound and gagged Ivan. "What do we do with Augustus Gloop here?"

Clint, who had gotten onboard to the pilot seat called back. "We need him. He's the only one who knows where Felix is headed."

Natasha sighed and looked at Tony and Steve, who had walked back out of the jet. "Pack him onboard."

As Natasha walked onto the jet, Tony looked from the large, gagged man to Steve. "Lift with your legs," he said, patting him on the back as he walked on the jet.

Bruce was holding down the button which opened the hangar door when he noticed something. As he looked to the sky he saw a cloud seemingly disappear at what looked like a reflector shield. From there he saw a large number of black vans speed towards the hangar from a distance. "GUYS!" Bruce shouted as he flipped the switch to close the hangar once again. "We got a problem!"

All four were immediately out of the jet and could see the approaching vans just before the hangar door was shut. "How'd they find us?" Clint asked in a pissed off voice.

Tony swore under his breath, drawing all eyes to him. "I needed to stay logged into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network long enough so that Jarvis could auto pilot the jet. It was our only way out when we left the hellicarrier. They were able to see the files that were stolen and must've figured we'd go to find Selvig."

"Well they're gonna be too close to the hangar. We'll never be able to take off at that angle." Clint was pissed.

Bruce thought hard on what to do. Suddenly it hit him. "Hey! I've got an idea! Start the jet and get ready to take off! You'll have to leave me behind!" he called out to the others.

"Not an option Bruce!" Tony called back.

"Not a discussion!" Bruce answered.

Tony wasn't happy, but he looked to the rest. None of them seemed happy about it, but Steve took the lead. "Alright let's go."

* * *

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents quickly surrounded the hanger. Each agent stood, guns at the ready, waiting for something to happen.

"We have the building surrounded. Give up now! There is no escape!" called an agent through a megaphone. Maria Hill stood in the center of the crowd of agents.

Suddenly the hangar door started to open, and Bruce Banner slid under it to face the agents. He walked with a purpose towards the crowd and from his face it was obvious he was angry, and Maria knew that was a bad sign.

"GET BACK!" she shouted at the agents. "GET BACK!"

"Orders Director?" an agent asked quickly, looking back and forth from the Director to the seemingly madman.

Maria stared at the frightening Bruce for a moment. "Set guns to Hulk tranquilizers, but Do Not engage. If we shoot him with that stuff before he changes the dosage will kill him."

"I SAID BACK UP!" Bruce shouted. He abruptly fell to his knees and slammed his fists to the ground in agony. "GET AWAY FROM ME! I'M GOING TO CHANGE! DO IT NOW!"

The agents were starting to panic and looked to their director questioningly. Maria finally had no choice. "Fall back slowly, but do not lose eyes on him."

* * *

The hanger door finished opening and Clint, who had been ducking out of sight with the rest of them, could see the agents retreating. "I'd say that's the signal." He popped up into the pilot seat and started up the jet. "All systems are go." The plane slowly moved forward until it was completely out of the hangar. Clint looked out the window and down towards Bruce who gave him a quick glance. He nooded down to the man and it was reciprocated. "Vertical takeoff commencing."

The agents went into a panic at seeing the jet moving. They moved their guns from Bruce to the jet and back. "Do not let them-!" Maria started but was cut off.

"-AAAGGGHHHHHH!" Bruce screamed in agony, drawing the agents' attention.

The jet flew upwards and gained altitude quickly before the agents could stop it. It started heading away from the hangar and was quickly out of range.

"Shit." Maria swore under her breath before returning her attention to Bruce.

His eyes were shut hard and he looked to be in great pain for the transformation. "RAAAAAAAA-!" he began, but suddenly he stopped. His eyes opened and he slowly stood up. He patted the dust off his pants and looked at the agents with a smile and his arms up. "On second thought, I feel a lot better."

* * *

"Alright, where are we going?" asked Clint from the pilot seat. Natasha sat next to him, but neither looked at one another.

Steve pulled the cloth from Ivan's mouth, but the man just spat on the floor. "You really think I'm going to tell you? It is too late. You have lost."

"Don't make me get the Russian." Steve bargained. "_Where… are… we going_?"

Again Ivan spat at the Captain's feet and sat in defiant silence. Steve turned to Tony and Natasha and nodded.

Natasha stood and turned to Ivan. She spoke to Clint without looking at him. "Open the back." She walked past Tony and Steve, warning them, "Buckle up." As she came to face Ivan, she crouched down to speak to him. "You wanna play martyr? Fine. Let's play." She grabbed the man's arm, pulling him to his feet and shoving him towards the back of the jet, which was now open, and pulling anything lose out into the air. Natasha held Ivan with one arm and a gun in the other, careful not to be sucked out of the jet. "You have two options. Refuse to talk, I shoot both your knees and watch you fall to your death. Tell us where Felix is headed and I consider not dropping you."

Ivan stared into the mad woman's eyes. "I've read your file. I've seen things you've done. I know what you are."

She stared at the man with complete hatred. "Then you know I'm serious. Now are you gonna be the martyr you wanna be and die the hero of your psychotic people, or are you gonna be the coward we both know you are and tell me where Felix is planning his attack?"

* * *

The gunmen burst through the door of the control room of the military base, shooting the few remaining guards. The scientists who had run the control room all surrendered quickly and were lined up in a corner of the room at gunpoint.

Felix waltzed into the room with a victorious smile on his face, scepter in hand. He nodded a congratulations to his comrades before looking at the line of scientists. He turned away from the wall with a smile. Before walking away, he spoke out loud. "No survivors."

* * *

**Its my birthday today and Reviews would be the best gifts ever! I'm curious as to what you guys think of my use of the characters besides Clint and Natasha. Did you like Bruce's plan? how do you feel about the development of the Clint and Natasha relationship? Happy to see Selvig?Let me know with a review just below!**

**The setup is pretty much done now. I think starting next chapter will be the climax! I think there's three chapters left and then an epilogue, but not 100% sure. But don't worry, there's still plenty of crazy shit still to go down! I'll get to work right away!**


	11. Chapter 10

**I'M BACK! Ya I know its been a while and I'm sorry for that but after one computer dying, technical problems with my new computer, and the craziness that comes with starting college I'm ready to finish this story. This chapter is the beginning of a longer chapter I had planned but I couldn't leave you guys with nothing. Once I find a way to do the next chapter so that I like it the rest is simple because its been planned since the beginning.**

**Shoutout to all the great reviewers from last chapter!- Poison Apple, TP, KatieLovesPeterPan, TheNaggingCube, Nat-Catwoman, azure blue espeon, Bribona, GregsMadHatter, clovely-littleme, Liliththestormgoddess, Aggie2011, discordchick, and Shane-O**

**Last we left the gang, Bruce had tricked S.H.I.E.L.D. into only capturing him, so that Clint, Natasha, Tony, and Steve could stop Felix and his Russian mob from using the nuclear codes.**

* * *

Maria Hill walked past the guard and into the interrogation room with a file in hand. She slammed the file down on the table and leant over it as she stared into the eyes of Bruce Banner. "Dr. Banner…" she began.

He sat their with a smug look on his face. "How are you Agent Hill?" he asked with the most sincere look.

Agent Hill was not looking to play any games. "Where are they?" The look in her eyes expressed the rage she felt inside.

"You seem angry. I could show you some breathing techniques…" he began sincerely, but it was clear by the look on her face that this woman would not put up with his attempts at humor.

Yet instead of lashing out at the screaming man she hesitated for a moment. She glanced over to the guard by the door and nodding at him. Without a word, the man walked out the door and shut it. Agent Hill then turned her back to Dr. Banners, and gave a signal to the camera in the upper corner of the room. The red light that was lit on the camera immediately went out. With tho, she turned back to the doctor and sat down at the table.

"Before this all started you were looking for a re-location" she began, opening up the file in front of her. "I'd be willing to look past your part in all this and give you exactly what you want." Bruce watched her silently. She was looking him straight in the eye, seemingly telling him that she was not lying. "I myself would handle everything and I alone would have the knowledge of where you were transferred to. We would not follow any of your movements from then on going forward." She flipped a page in the file before flipping it to show Bruce was what written. "You would also receive a generous compensation for your time spent working with us," she began, before pulling a picture out of the file and sliding it to Bruce "as well as access to a private communication line with a certain General's daughter."

Bruce froze. He looked down to the picture, memories flashing in his mind all at once. After a minute of complete silence, Agent Hill finally spoke again, this time in a very gentle tone. "We would never bother you again. You may be a menace to society… a pariah among the people you care about… but one thing I know about you doctor is that you are good. You don't deserve to be here but you are and now I need you to do what's right." Bruce looked up at her. His eyes were watering and his face was unreadable. "This is your last chance Dr. Banner. Where are they?"

* * *

"Are we all clear on the plan?" Steve asked from the back of the jet.

"Crystal. We'll be passing over the base in approximately two minutes." Clint answered, focused on the controls. Natasha sat as his co-pilot, although neither had made any attempt to look at the other.

Tony, riding in the back with Steve and the tied up Ivan, stood at Clint's answer. "Good. That gives us just enough time to make everything clear."

Clint, realizing Stark was addressing him personally, stood and turned to face the man. "Let's hear it." he said, arms crossed.

Tony waited a moment to speak before stepping closer to Clint to make sure he would hear every word. "We've got enough variables to account for. You can't be Mr. Unpredictable." The mere sound of these words coming from Tony's mouth to address Clint made Natasha feel awkward. Tony continued in a less hostile manner. "I can forgive everything that's happened up to this point. You were in a tough spot and you reacted… It was a batshit, crazy reaction, but hey, we're not dead yet. You can either be a part of this team, and follow the Captain's plan, or you can keep the lone wolf skit going and we'll all be dead in an hour, along with most of the world. What's it gonna be Barton?"

Clint's looked hard at Tony for a split second before speaking while closing the short distance between them. "You know Stark I've always thought of you as being ninety-eight percent flash, two percent substance… I was right." The two men were face to face now. Clint's hard expression suddenly turned into a slight smile. "But the two percent… I like it." Clint stuck his hand out and a second late Tony's met it in a handshake between the men.

"Approaching the base." came Natasha's voice from the front of the jet. Clint immediately turned and went back to the main controls.

"Natasha, you're up." Steve ordered. "Radio us when you touch down. Remember, first priority is to shut down the missiles." Natasha stood from her seat and took a step towards the back of the jet, but was stopped when Clint's hand grabbed her arm.

She turned her head to look at him and for the first time since they had boarded the jet, their eyes met. "Hey," Clint whispered, "be careful."

After a moment Clint let go. "You too." Natasha replied as she walked away.

Moments later Natasha leapt from the back of the jet with a parachute on her back, leaving the men aboard.

Once she was gone, Clint, now steering the jet again, turned his head slightly to address Steve and Tony. "Thank you both."

"For what?" Steve asked.

"Neither of you or Bruce had any reason to help me or Natasha." It seemed hard for Clint to admit this. Especially with the sounds of Ivan's moaning in the background. "Even after everything that's happened, you still trust me, and that means a lot… Also, Stark finally used my actual name." he said with a smile. Steve and Tony couldn't help but smile as well. "Now would somebody shut him up?"

"Sure thing, Tweety." Stark replied with a nudge on Clint's shoulder.

There was a beep from the control motor in front of Clint. He looked back to the Captain. Steve stood and looked to the two men. "Time to suit up."

* * *

**I know its short. I'm working on more but I had to get something up for you guys. Its great to be back! Hope you like what I have in stored! Its gonna get real good!**


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